Randall Jensen

SAN FRANCISCO - Montebello, Calif., has won a legal victory that will allow it to sell notes to buffer its troubled finances.

SAN FRANCISCO — California Controller John Chiang has ordered an investigation of the troubled city of Hercules after uncovering what he calls major discrepancies in its financial reports.

The California state auditor will investigate the controversial proposal by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to spend $179 million of bridge toll dollars to move its office from Oakland to San Francisco.

The Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, which is proposing a controversial Alaska public-private partnership toll bridge project, may need more funding from the state if toll revenues fall short, according to local press reports.

California lawmakers Wednesday green-lighted a wide-ranging audit into conduit bond issuers run by private contractors to make sure they are complying with state law.

SAN FRANCISCO — California has set Sept. 20 as the date for its first general obligation bond sale of the year and has put another on the calendar, although the size of both deals remains undecided.

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco International Airport will sell $450 million of refunding bonds this week in a quick follow-up to a deal earlier this summer in order to take advantage of a favorable market.

SAN FRANCISCO - Municipal bond volume in the Far West in the first half of 2011 fell by more than half from the same period a year earlier, driven by zero deals from the state of California, normally the largest issuer in the country.

Seattle voters passed a referendum Tuesday for a $2 billion tunnel project downtown, ending a decade of controversy. The Highway 99 tunnel is part of the $3.1 billion replacement of the double-decker Alaska Way Viaduct along the city’s waterfront. The viaduct is considered highly vulnerable to an earthquake.

Washington is bracing for a slowdown after July-August revenues came in 1.3% lower than June’s forecast, the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council said.

Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday ordered an investigation into the finances of the troubled city of Vernon.

California’s Department of Finance said general fund July revenue came in $541 million below the forecast in the recently adopted budget. The figure fell more than 9% short of the fiscal 2012 budget forecast of $5.86 billion, confirming a similar reading released last week by Controller John Chiang.

California plans to sell $5.4 billion of revenue anticipation notes the week of Sept. 12 to pay off the bridge loan secured at the end of July to avoid market chaos, according to the state treasurer’s office. Wells Fargo Securities and Barclays Capital are joint senior managers.

SAN FRANCISCO - Los Angeles has dropped Standard & Poor's from rating its $7 billion investment portfolio after the agency downgraded it along with the United States last week.

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Department of Water Resources will sell $1 billion of power revenue bonds this week as part of a plan to refund debt sold in 2002 due to the state's energy crisis.

SAN FRANCISCO - California's redevelopment agencies won an early battle to stay alive after the state Supreme Court granted a stay Thursday against implementing new laws that would force them to pay or face elimination.

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire has asked state agencies to prepare for 10% in spending cuts for the next budget.

Cost estimates for California’s proposed high-speed rail project are starting to come in higher than expected, according to local press reports.

SAN FRANCISCO - California general fund revenues last month came in more than 10% below budget projections, raising the specter of deeper cuts to state spending.

SAN FRANCISCO - St. Mary's College of California said it disagrees with Moody's Investors Service's assessment of its finances after the rating agency put $69 million of variable-rate bonds on watch for a downgrade.