Kyle Glazier

California lawmakers are getting closer to finding more money for the state's infrastructure with less than two weeks left in the regular legislative session, though deep divides remain.

Standard & Poor's has upgraded Salinas, Calif.'s sanitary sewer system revenue bonds to AA-minus from A-plus.

The Tri-county Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon will sell $133.6 million of triple-A rated payroll tax bonds Sept. 9.

While growth rates and the trajectory of the economy have improved considerably, Oregon is not yet fully healed from the recession and may suffer from the retirement of older workers, the state's economic forecast showed.

Washington State is racking up court-imposed penalties approaching $2 million, a positive for the credits of school districts in the state, Moody's Investors Service said this week.

Standard & Poor's has affirmed its A-plus rating for Washougal, Wash. water and sewer revenue bonds ahead of a $10.8 million deal.

Officials at Portland, Ore.'s Metro want to complete the bond financing of a long-delayed hotel adjacent to its convention center after a recent major courtroom victory.

Sacramento is planning to convert existing short-term debt into long-term bonds next month to finance its share of an arena for the Sacramento Kings basketball team.

San Jose, Calif.’s pension settlement with the city’s police and firefighters is evidence that reducing pension liabilities will be challenging for local governments, Fitch Ratings said in a commentary.

Standard & Poor's affirmed its AAA rating of California Department of Water Resources water system revenue bonds for the Central Valley Project ahead of a $109 million deal it expects to price Aug. 25.

A high-profile San Francisco Bay Area business advocate, the Bay Area Council's Jim Wunderman, says a sales tax should be used to help meet California's massive unfunded transportation needs.

California lawmakers began consideration of several bond-related propositions aimed at raising infrastructure revenue.

Standard & Poor’s put triple-A rated Alaska on negative outlook and warned that it might no longer warrant the highest rating if the state’s lawmakers fail to fix its structural budget imbalance.

Alaska and California issuers are among those at risk of downgrades after U.S. oil prices tumbled this week, Fitch Ratings said Tuesday.

Standard & Poor's announced Friday that it is withdrawing its rating on Palm Drive Health Care District, Calif. after repeated attempts to get necessary information from the issuer failed.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has censored and fined UBS Financial Services $750,000 for falsely representing to its customers that the interest on their municipal bond payments was tax-exempt when it was taxable.

Fresno County, Calif. will bring $27 million of pension obligation refunding bonds to market in the coming days.

Richmond, Calif., is fighting to avoid being perceived as the next California issuer in distress after Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the city to junk.

Roseville, Calif.'s water utility revenue certificates of participation won an upgrade from Standard & Poor's, which cited the system's ability to raise rates.

Portland, Ore., will execute its largest refunding in city history when it issues some $400 million of sewer system refunding bonds Aug. 18.