Far West

The San Diego City Council supported a resolution Tuesday to take the next step in forming a special taxing district to pay for a $575 million plan that would expand the city’s convention center.

The Los Angeles City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee tabled action until Jan. 23 on a responsible banking ordinance until it can work out additional details.

Three California taxpayer associations have filed a ballot initiative to cap state spending.

The San Jose City Council Tuesday moved a step closer to a pension reform ballot measure.

The Internal Revenue Service has ruled that a nonprofit health care system cannot use tax-exempt bonds to pay off the debt of a for-profit subsidiary that financed the development of a wellness and fitness facility, even though the facility was donated to another nonprofit organization.

Other financial industry groups lobby Washington lawmakers and regulators about the issues that affect the municipal securities markets, but few can match SIFMA's resources.

As Jefferson County, Ala., teetered on the edge of bankruptcy for much of this year, a financial industry group plowed more than $4 million into lobbying Washington lawmakers and regulators to dilute provisions of the reform law enacted last year to curb the kinds of abuses that helped trigger the municipality's fiscal distress.

SIFMA's highest-paid outside lobbyist this year, Ernst & Young LLP in Washington, received $240,000 through September for activities in the House, the Senate, and the Treasury Department on miscellaneous corporate tax issues related to financial services, according to its disclosure reports.

The Inland Valley Development Agency in California disclosed that it and the San Bernardino International Airport Authority are being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

State treasurers voiced concerns about a proposal unveiled by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board that recommends they provide five-year projections of cash flows and information about future financial obligations.