In June 2017, the GASB established new guidance that establishes a single approach to accounting for and reporting leases by state and local governments. The approach is based on the principle that leases are financings of the right to use an underlying asset.

GASB Statement No. 87, Leases, provides guidance for lease contracts for nonfinancial assets—including vehicles, heavy equipment, and buildings—but excludes nonexchange transactions, including donated assets, and leases of intangible assets (such as patents and software licenses). 
The Board initiated the project because the previous leasing guidance predates the GASB and doesnt take the conceptual framework into consideration—including the definitions of assets and liabilities. Moreover, the prior lease standards allow a lease to be structured in a manner that avoids reporting the economic substance of the transaction. That is, a long-term liability and related asset were not reported as a result of the lease transaction.
Through the leasing guidance, the Board is seeking to align the accounting and financial reporting of lease transactions more closely with their economic substance. The guidance is based on the underlying principle that leases are financings of the right to use an underlying asset for a period of time. It will eliminate the current distinction between operating and capital leases by treating all leases as financings. 
Board deliberations in the leases project were informed by private-sector lease requirements of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), which recently reexamined their leases standards.