Far West

California's general fund tax revenues are coming in $1 billion to $2 billion over the already healthy projections in Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed budget, according to a new report from the state's Legislative Analyst's Office.

The Internal Revenue Service has announced how many qualified zone academy bonds can be issued in each state, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories for 2014.

The suspension of the nation's debt limit expires March 15, with important implications for municipal issuers selling refunding debt during the next several weeks.

Berryessa Union School District, located in San Jose, Calif., received a ratings boost to AA-minus from A-plus on its long-term ratings and on the district's upcoming plans to issue $40 million in general obligation bonds.

Fitch Ratings has upgraded the rating on Cedars Sinai Medical Center's outstanding debt to AA-minus from A-plus and revised its outlook to stable from positive affecting $1 billion in debt.

The tax exemption for general purpose state and local debt has consistently been one of the biggest corporate tax expenditures since 1975, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts is preparing to push home its pro-disclosure message this year with a series of new educational papers and efforts to be even more collaborative, new NFMA board chair Jennifer Johnston said.

Qualified Public Infrastructure Bond plan marks a further step in the Obama administration's Build America Investment Initiative.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's disclosure violation self-reporting program has highlighted that issuers and underwriters should take steps to strengthen their disclosure and due diligence procedures to protect themselves from SEC enforcement action, bond lawyers said Thursday.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said he hopes Congress and the Obama administration can work in a bipartisan way to authorize qualified public infrastructure bonds or another type of bond program.