Far West

WASHINGTON - A bond lawyers' group is urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to allow issuers to disclose interim financial action without fear of possible enforcement action by the agency.

SAN FRANCISCO - California plunged into a hungry market this week with its first general obligation bond sale of the year, grabbing yields far below its most recent sale last year.

With tax revenues continuing to sputter, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire Thursday announced that she will call legislators in for a special session, beginning Nov. 28.

A series of putable floating option tax-exempt receipts issued by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power was placed on short-term negative rating watch by Fitch Ratings in the wake of Moody’s Investors Service downgrade Wednesday’s of Bank of America.

Los Angeles and Pasadena financial officials filed disclosure notices about the potential impact that Moody’s Investors Service’s downgrade of Bank of America could have on bonds issued by their cities.

A drop in assessed values in Cathedral City, a desert city near Palm Springs, resulted in multi-notch downgrades by Standard & Poor’s on the Cathedral City Public Financing Authority’s merged project area tax-allocation bonds.

California Gov. Jerry Brown is weighing one bill that secures bondholders if a hospital declares bankruptcy, and has already signed another that proponents said could help corporate investment in municipal bonds.

August tax revenue in California came in $65 million below a budget forecast of $6.23 billion, according to the Department of Finance.

WASHINGTON - Small, independent municipal advisors asked the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board for an exemption from its proposed $300 per head annual assessment, while dealers criticized as burdensome and costly the board's survey designed to obtain compensation and income data for the assessments.

The San Diego Chargers are getting pushback from officials on a proposal to combine the city's plans for a new $550 million convention center with plans for a $800 million football stadium.