Far West

Voters in Portland, Ore., will decide May 17 on the city's proposed four-year, 10 cent per gallon gasoline tax.

The District of Columbia issued $103 million of tax-exempt bonds this week to help finance construction of the first national museum dedicated to telling the story of law enforcement in America.

School and community college districts violate California law if they purposely incentivize municipal finance professionals to advocate for passage of a bond measure, said a formal opinion from Attorney General Kamala Harris.

Capital appreciation bond issuance by California school and community college districts more than tripled to $999 million in 2015 despite legislation to discourage use of the bond structure.

A lawsuit against the new basketball arena project in downtown Sacramento will end up costing the city about $27 million in extra debt service, according to city treasurer Russ Fehr.

California Controller Betty Yee urged public employee unions to negotiate prefunding of retiree healthcare benefits as her office's latest report identified California's OPEB liability at $74.1 billion.

Two Republican state committees that challenged the constitutionality of a Securities and Exchange Commission political contributions rule are insisting the SEC reject a Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board proposal to extend pay-to-play prohibitions to municipal advisors.

Richard Ravitch, James Spiotto and Lois Scott are among the municipal leaders who've started an advocacy group to help local governments face what it describes as the "uncertain future" of public pension plans.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power may see significant changes under a ballot measure proposal introduced by a city council member.

A King County, Wash. Superior Court judge has struck down a voter-approved ballot measure that would have lowered taxes unless the legislature adopted a new constitutional amendment giving more control of tax increases to voters.