Where any acts or proceedings are taken under color of law by or on behalf of any city, county, city and county, special district, public corporation or other public entity for the authorization, sale or issuance of bonds:
§ 349.2.Acts Or Proceedings Taken By City, County, City Or County, Etc. For Authorization, Sale Or Issuance of Bonds
Title 2. Of the Time of Commencing Civil Actions · Chapter 3. The Time of Commencing Actions Other Than for the Recovery of Real Property · Enacted 1957 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 349.2 gives a six-month deadline to contest the validity of a public entity’s bond authorization, sale, or issuance, measured separately from the date of the authorizing election or resolution, the date of sale, and the date of issuance and delivery.
Full Text of § 349.2
(1) The validity of any such acts or proceedings for the authorization of bonds shall not be contested in any action unless such action shall have been brought within six months from the date of election authorizing said bonds, in cases where said bonds are required by law to be authorized at an election, or within six months from the date of adoption of a resolution or ordinance authorizing such bonds, in cases where bonds are not required by law to be authorized at an election;
(2) The validity of any such acts or proceedings for the sale of bonds (including all acts or proceedings taken prior thereto and providing for the issuance of such bonds) shall not be contested in any action unless such action shall have been brought within six months from the date of sale of said bonds;
(3) The validity of any such acts or proceedings for the issuance and delivery of, or payment for, bonds shall not be contested in any action unless such action shall have been brought within six months from the date of issuance and delivery of, or payment for, said bonds. Unless an action is commenced within the applicable time hereinabove specified, said acts or proceedings for the authorization, sale or issuance of bonds shall be held valid and in every respect legal and incontestable. This section shall not amend or repeal any existing statute prescribing a shorter period of limitation than that specified herein. As used in this section, the term "bonds" means all instruments evidencing indebtedness incurred or to be incurred for any public purpose, all instruments evidencing the borrowing of money in anticipation of taxes, revenues or other income of a public body, all instruments payable from revenues or special funds, and all instruments funding or refunding any thereof or any indebtedness, but shall not include any special assessment bonds, special assessment refunding bonds, or bonds or other instruments issued to represent special assessments which are, directly or indirectly, secured by or payable from specific assessments levied against lands benefited, including bonds or other instruments issued under or pursuant to any statute, charter or ordinance providing for the improvement of streets, the opening and widening of streets, the provision for off-street parking, or the refunding of any of the same.
Plain-English Summary
Section 349.2 is the bond-specific companion to § 349.1’s entity-formation rule. Where a city, county, city and county, special district, public corporation, or other public entity takes action under color of law to authorize, sell, or issue bonds, each stage of that process gets its own six-month challenge window measured from a different trigger date.
A challenge to the authorization of the bonds must come within six months of the authorizing election (if the bonds required voter authorization) or of the resolution or ordinance authorizing them (if not). A challenge to the sale must come within six months of the sale date. And a challenge to the issuance, delivery, or payment of the bonds must come within six months of that issuance, delivery, or payment. Miss any of these windows, and the corresponding acts become valid, legal, and incontestable, subject to any other statute setting a shorter period.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to challenge a city or district’s bond authorization in California?
Six months from the authorizing election or, if no election was required, from the resolution or ordinance authorizing the bonds, under § 349.2.
Does the six-month deadline in § 349.2 run from one date or several?
Several — authorization, sale, and issuance/delivery/payment each get their own separate six-month window measured from that stage’s own trigger date.
Amendment History
Added by Stats. 1957, Ch. 1345.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 28, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: municipal bond validation deadline California