Far West

WASHINGTON - Underwriters may need to withdraw from a competitive transaction if they uncover inaccurate disclosure and the issuer cannot resolve their concerns, a dealer group said in guidance released last week.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board of directors approved plans last Thursday to issue $250 million of bonds.

WASHINGTON - States' unfunded liabilities for health care and other non-pension post-employment benefits totaled $545 billion in fiscal 2010, Standard & Poor's said in a report issued Thursday.

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.