53590
. The following terms shall have the following meanings for
purposes of this article:
(a) "Bond counsel" means any attorney or firm of attorneys that
represents the issuer of a new issue of bonds with respect to the
issuance of the bonds and that renders a written legal opinion to, or
as counsel for, the issuer with respect to the validity of the
bonds.
(b) "Bond" means any bonds, notes, or other evidences of
indebtedness issued by any local agency or certificates of
participation in any lease, sale, or other obligations of any local
agency. "New issue of bonds" means the original issuance of bonds,
including refunding bonds, by the issuer to one or more purchasers
until, in the case of underwriters, the end of the underwriting
period. In the case of bonds with a tender or put option feature, or
commercial paper, "new issue of bonds" means only the original
issuance and not any remarketing, rollover, or reissuance.
(c) A "financial advisory relationship" exists when an investment
firm, or other person or firm in the business of providing financial
advisory or financial consulting services to issuers with respect to
municipal securities, renders, or enters into an agreement to
render, financial advisory or financial consultant services to, or on
behalf of, an issuer with respect to a new issue or issues of bonds,
including advice with respect to the structure, timing, terms, and
other similar matters concerning the issue or issues, for a fee or
other compensation or in expectation of such compensation for the
rendering of those services. However, a financial advisory
relationship does not exist when, in the course of acting as an
underwriter, an investment firm renders advice to an issuer,
including advice with respect to the structure, timing, terms, and
other similar matters concerning a new issue of bonds or when, for
any new issuer of bonds, an investment firm advises and assists an
issuer with respect to obtaining consent from holders of previously
issued bonds in connection with, among other things, amendments of
covenants or defaults.
(d) "Investment firm" means any bank, investment bank,
partnership, corporation, association, or other firm engaged in the
business of buying and selling bonds for its own account or for the
account of others as part of its regular business.
(e) "Local agency" means a public district, public corporation,
authority, agency, board, commission, county, city and county, city,
school district, or other local public entity.