Far West

California's new, higher legal smoking age of 21 heralds more trouble for tobacco securitization debt, said analyst Richard Larkin.

Legislation to require California issuers to provide significantly more information about their bond payments and uses of proceeds appears to be marching toward passage.

Alaska lost its last triple-A rating Tuesday, when Fitch Ratings downgraded the state to AA-plus.

The California legislature will vote Wednesday on whether to approve a compromise legislative leaders reached on the state’s proposed $169.3 billion budget.

In a first of a kind case, two California-based municipal advisory firms and their executives agreed to pay a total of $200,000 to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that they used deceptive business practices in dealing with five school districts.

Mesirow Financial has appointed Blake Anderson to a newly-created position leading client portfolio strategy in its institutional sales and trading group.

The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District Board of Directors has voted unanimously to place a $3.5 billion general obligation bond measure on the November ballot.

California revenues fell short of estimates in Gov. Jerry Brown's 2016-17 proposed budget, according to State Controller Betty Yee's monthly cash report.

The full Senate is expected to take up the Puerto Rico bill passed by the House and vote on it before the end of the month or in early July.

California's controller, governor and some senators are calling for tax reform that would help eliminate the volatility inherent in dependence on taxing the state's affluent residents.