Far West

The credit quality of California's water and public power utilities is expected to remain strong over the next year, but could be pressured in the future, according to Fitch Ratings.

More Californians said they would support an $11 billion water bond this year, compared to last year, according to a recent survey.

California cities that collect a property tax for pensions say a snafu in the state's process of winding down redevelopment agencies is hurting the cities' ability to service pension obligation bonds and threatens deficits and layoffs.

For yet another year, uncertainty surrounding the potential loss or cap of the municipal tax exemption concerned panelists at the National Municipal Bond Summit.

A Treasury Department official told bond lawyers to view the municipal bond provisions in House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp's tax reform plan as a "scorecard of revenue offsets" that can be used in other tax proposals.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's new program to encourage self-reporting of a specific continuing disclosure violation is facing some skepticism from bond lawyers even as one SEC attorney said it may eventually be expanded to cover other violations.

Standard & Poor's has upgraded the rating on San Jose-Evergreen Community College District's general obligation bonds based on its improved financial performance.

The University of California will bring $950 million of revenue bonds to market next week in a tax-exempt and taxable deal to fund construction projects throughout its campuses.

The Fix L.A. Coalition, a group of union and progressive organizations, released a report suggesting the city could substantially reduce the $204 million in bank and money management fees that it paid last year to Wall Street firms.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board unanimously voted not to delay the implementation of new reporting requirements for governments that provide their employees with pensions, after the Government Finance Officers Association and other groups pressed for a postponement.