California Treasurer Bill Lockyer, who oversees some of the largest municipal bond sales in the country, said he will retire from elected office at the end of his term in 2015.
“It’s tough to leave a career I have loved. It’s been an exciting, fulfilling and rewarding 45 years,” said Lockyer in a statement Monday. “I’m not abandoning the political and public policy arena. I will remain engaged.”
The announcement by Lockyer, a Democrat, means he will forgo a run for state controller in 2014.
Elected treasurer in 2006, Lockyer, 72, has managed one of the top municipal bond issuers in the country, selling billions of dollars of bonds every year.
Under Lockyer, state bond spreads have narrowed and credit ratings have improved amid better budgets in recent years.
Before being treasurer, Lockyer served as California’s attorney general from 1998 to 2006.
Lockyer was first elected to public office in 1968 as a member of the San Leandro Unified School District board.
He was elected to the State Assembly in 1973 and went on to serve for 25 years in the legislature, ending his tenure as president pro tem of the Senate from 1994 to 1998.
