tefca485a.htm

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[logo - American Funds /(R)/] The right choice for the long term/(R)/

The Tax-Exempt Bond Fund of America/(R)/
American High-Income Municipal Bond Fund/(R)/
Limited Term Tax-Exempt Bond Fund of America/SM/
The Tax-Exempt Fund of California/(R)/
American Funds Short-Term Tax-Exempt Bond Fund/SM/

TICKER
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CLASS A CLASS B CLASS C CLASS F-1 CLASS F-2

TAX-EXEMPT BOND FUND OF AFTEX TEBFX TEBCX AFTFX TEAFX
AMERICA ....................
AMERICAN HIGH-INCOME AMHIX ABHMX AHICX ABHFX AHMFX
MUNICIPAL BOND FUND ........
LIMITED TERM TAX-EXEMPT BOND LTEBX LTXBX LTXCX LTXFX LTEFX
FUND OF AMERICA.............
TAX-EXEMPT FUND OF TAFTX TECBX TECCX TECFX TEFEX
CALIFORNIA..................
AMERICAN FUNDS SHORT-TERM ASTEX N/A N/A FSTTX ASTFX
TAX-EXEMPT BOND FUND........

PROSPECTUS

November 1, 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS

x Summaries
Tax-Exempt Bond Fund of America
American High-Income Municipal Bond Fund
Limited Term Tax-Exempt Bond Fund of America
Tax-Exempt Fund of California
American Funds Short-Term Tax-Exempt Bond Fund
x Tax Information
x Financial intermediary compensation
x Investment objectives, strategies and risks
x Management and organization
x Shareholder information
x Choosing a share class
x Purchase and exchange of shares
x Sales charges
x Sales charge reductions and waivers
x Rollovers from retirement plans to IRAs
x Plans of distribution
x Other compensation to dealers
x How to sell shares
x Distributions and taxes
x Financial highlights
x Appendix

THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION HAS NOT APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED OF
THESE SECURITIES. FURTHER, IT HAS NOT DETERMINED THAT THIS PROSPECTUS IS
ACCURATE OR COMPLETE. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL
OFFENSE.

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[This page is intentionally left blank for this filing.]

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The Tax-Exempt Bond Fund of America

Investment objective

The fund's investment objective is to provide you with a high level of current
income exempt from federal income tax, consistent with the preservation of
capital.

Fees and expenses of the fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold
shares of the fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your
family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $100,000 in American
Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your
financial professional and in the "Sales charge reductions and waivers" section
on X of the fund's prospectus and on X of the fund's statement of additional
information.

SHAREHOLDER FEES
(fees paid directly from your investment)
SHARE CLASSES
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A B C F
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Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on 3.75% none none none
purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
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Maximum deferred sales charge (load) 5.00% 1.00% none
(as a percentage of the amount redeemed) none
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Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on none none none none
reinvested dividends
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Redemption or exchange fees none none none none

ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your
investment)
---------------------------------------------------SHARE CLASSES---------------

--A-------B-------C------F-1------F-2---

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Total annual fund operating expenses

Tax-exempt income funds / Prospectus
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EXAMPLE

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the funds
with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in each fund for the time periods
indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The
example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year, that all
dividends and capital gain distributions are reinvested, that you pay the
maximum initial or contingent deferred sales charge, and that each fund's
operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or
lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:

SHARE CLASSES 1 YEAR 3 YEARS 5 YEARS 10 YEARS
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B

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C

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F-1

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F-2

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For the share classes listed below, you would pay the following if you did not
redeem your shares:

SHARE CLASSES 1 YEAR 3 YEARS 5 YEARS 10 YEARS
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C

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PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells
securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may
indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund
shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in
annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund's performance.
During the most recent fiscal year, the fund's portfolio turnover rate was X% of
the average value of its portfolio.

Tax-exempt income funds / Prospectus

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Principal investment strategies

The fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing primarily in municipal
bonds.

Under normal circumstances, the fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in,
or derive at least 80% of its income from, securities that are exempt from
regular federal income tax. The fund will not invest in securities that subject
you to federal alternative minimum tax. The fund invests substantially in debt
securities rated A- or better by Standard & Poor's Corporation or A3 or better
by Moody's Investors Service, or unrated but determined by the fund's investment
adviser to be of equivalent quality. The fund may also invest in debt securities
rated BBB+ or below and Baa1 or below (including those rated Ba1 or below and
BB+ or below) or unrated but determined by the fund's investment adviser to be
of equivalent quality.

The fund relies on the professional judgment of its investment adviser to make
decisions about the fund's portfolio investments. The basic investment
philosophy of the investment adviser is to seek to invest in attractively priced
securities that, in its opinion, represent above-average, long-term investment
opportunities. The investment adviser believes that an important way to
accomplish this is by analyzing various factors, which may include the credit
strength of the issuer, prices of similar securities issued by comparable
issuers, current and anticipated changes in interest rates, general market
conditions and other factors pertinent to the particular security being
evaluated. Securities may be sold when the investment adviser believes that they
no longer represent relatively attractive investment opportunities.

Tax-exempt income funds / Prospectus
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Principal risks

YOU MAY LOSE MONEY BY INVESTING IN THE FUND. THE LIKELIHOOD OF LOSS MAY BE
GREATER IF YOU INVEST FOR A SHORTER PERIOD OF TIME.

Your investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or
guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government
agency, entity or person.

Municipal bonds are debt obligations generally issued to obtain funds for
various public purposes, including the construction of public facilities.

The values of, and the income generated by, most debt securities held by the
funds may be affected by changing interest rates and by changes in the effective
maturities and credit ratings of these securities. For example, the values of
debt securities in each fund's portfolio generally will decline when interest
rates rise and increase when interest rates fall. In addition, falling interest
rates may cause an issuer to redeem, "call" or refinance a security before its
stated maturity, which may result in a fund having to reinvest the proceeds in
lower yielding securities.

A bond's effective maturity is the market's trading assessment of its maturity
and represents an estimate of the most likely time period during which an
investor in that bond will receive payment of principal. For example, as market
interest rates decline, issuers may exercise call provisions that shorten the
bond's effective maturity. Conversely, if interest rates rise, effective
maturities tend to lengthen. A portfolio's dollar-weighted average maturity is
the weighted average of all effective maturities in the portfolio, where more
weight is given to larger holdings.

Debt securities are also subject to credit risk, which is the possibility that
the credit strength of an issuer will weaken and/or an issuer of a debt security
will fail to make timely payments of principal or interest and the security will
go into default. Lower quality or longer maturity debt securities generally have
higher rates of interest and may be subject to greater price fluctuations than
higher quality or shorter maturity debt securities. There may be little trading
in the secondary market for particular debt securities, which may make them more
difficult to value or sell. See the appendix in this prospectus for credit
rating descriptions.

The funds' investment adviser attempts to reduce these risks through
diversification of the portfolio and ongoing credit analysis, as well as by
monitoring economic and legislative developments, but there can be no assurance
that it will be successful at doing so.

Tax-exempt income funds / Prospectus

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Investment results

The bar chart below shows how the fund's investment results have varied from
year to year, and the table on earlier pages shows how the fund's average annual
total returns for various periods compare with different broad measures of
market performance. This information provides some indication of the risks of
investing in the fund. Past results (before and after taxes) are not predictive
of future results. Updated information on the fund's results can be obtained by
visiting americanfunds.com.

CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURNS FOR CLASS A SHARES
(Results do not include a sales charge; if a sales charge were included,
results would be lower.)

[begin bar chart]

1999 -2.31%
2000 9.69
2001 5.57
2002 8.44
2003 5.18
2004 4.37
2005 3.35
2006 4.76
2007 1.72
2008 -7.10

[end bar chart]

Highest/Lowest quarterly results during this time period were:

HIGHEST 4.09% (quarter ended September 30, 2002)
LOWEST -1.83% (quarter ended June 30, 2004)

The fund's total return for the nine months ended September 30, 2009, was X.XX%.

Tax-exempt income funds / Prospectus
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AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS
FOR THE PERIODS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2008 (WITH MAXIMUM SALES CHARGE):
SHARE CLASS INCEPTION DATE 1 YEAR 5 YEARS 10 YEARS LIFETIME
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A - Before taxes 10/3/79

- After taxes on
distributions
- After taxes on distributions and sale of
fund shares

SHARE CLASS (before taxes) INCEPTION DATE 1 YEAR 5 YEARS LIFETIME
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B 3/15/00

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C 3/15/01

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F-1 3/15/01

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INDEXES/1/ (before taxes) 1 YEAR 5 YEARS 10 YEARS LIFETIME/2/
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Barclays Capital Municipal Bond
Index
(formerly Lehman Brothers Municipal
Bond Index)
Lipper General Municipal Debt
Funds Average
Class A annualized 30-day yield at August 31, 2009: x.xx%
(For current yield information, please call American FundsLine/(R)/ at
800/325-3590.)

1 The Barclays Capital Municipal Bond Index (formerly Lehman Brothers Municipal
Bond Index)is a gauge of the long-term tax-exempt bond market and reflects a portion
of the fixed income securities in which the fund may invest. Lipper General
Municipal Debt Funds Average includes the fund and other funds that disclose
investment objectives which are reasonably comparable to the fund's objective.
See page X of this prospectus for more information on the indexes listed above.
2 Lifetime results for the index(es) shown are measured from the date Class A
shares were first sold.

After-tax returns are shown only for Class A shares, after-tax returns for other
share classes will vary. After-tax returns are calculated using the highest
individual federal income tax rates in effect during each year of the periods
shown and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Your actual
after-tax returns depend on your individual tax situation and likely will differ
from the results shown above. In addition, after-tax returns are not relevant if
you hold your fund shares through a tax-deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k)
plan, individual retirement account (IRA) or 529 college savings plan.

Tax-exempt income funds / Prospectus

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Management

INVESTMENT ADVISER

Capital Research and Management Company, the investment adviser to the funds,
uses a system of multiple portfolio counselors in managing mutual fund assets.

PORTFOLIO COUNSELORS

The primary individual portfolio counselors for the fund are:

PORTFOLIO COUNSELOR/ PORTFOLIO COUNSELOR PRIMARY TITLE
FUND TITLE (if EXPERIENCE WITH INVESTMENT ADVISER
applicable) IN THIS FUND (or one of its divisions)
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BRENDA S. ELLERIN 10 years Senior Vice President - Fixed
Senior Vice President Income,
Capital Research and Management
Company
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NEIL L. LANGBERG 29 years Senior Vice President - Fixed
President and Director Income,
Capital Research and Management
Company
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KARL J. ZEILE 5 years Senior Vice President - Fixed
Income, Capital Research and
Management Company

Purchase and sale of fund shares

PURCHASE MINIMUMS (for all share classes)
---------------------------------------------------------

TO ESTABLISH AN ACCOUNT $250
TO ADD TO AN ACCOUNT 50

You may sell (redeem) shares through your dealer or financial adviser, by
writing to American Funds Service Company, telephoning (800/421-0180) or faxing
American Funds Service Company or accessing our website (americanfunds.com).

For important information about tax information and financial intermediary
compensation, please turn to the sections titled "Tax information" and "Payments
to broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries" on pages X and X,
respectively.

Tax-exempt income funds / Prospectus
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American High-Income Municipal Bond Fund

Investment objective

The fund's investment objective is to provide you with a high level of current
income exempt from regular federal income tax.

Fees and expenses of the fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold
shares of the fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your
family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $100,000 in American
Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your
financial professional and in the "Sales charge reductions and waivers" section
on X prospectus and on X of the fund's statement of additional information.

SHAREHOLDER FEES
(fees paid directly from your investment)
SHARE CLASSES
----------------------------
A B C F
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your
investment)
---------------------------------------------------SHARE CLASSES---------------

--A-------B-------C------F-1------F-2---

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Management fees

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Distribution and/or service (12b-1)
fees
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Other expenses