Far West

California Controller John Chiang Monday said revenues came in $351 million less in June and May than anticipated in the newly adopted state budget.

WASHINGTON - First Southwest Co., as bidding agent for a repurchase agreement related to a $233 million bond deal in Texas for which it was financial adviser, improperly allowed JPMorgan Securities to lower its bid for the repo, reducing the issuer's investment rate, according to documents and transaction participants.

House Republicans are trying to divert $1 billion dollars of high-speed rail funding still left in the federal government's coffers from President Obama's stimulus program toward flood-control aid in the Midwest.

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday that only about 20% of governmental issuers that responded to a survey showed they have written procedures or some system to make sure they comply with tax laws and rules after their bonds are issued.

LOS ANGELES - Pacifica Law Group, a recently formed public finance firm in Seattle, announced two prominent industry lawyers have joined its team.

WASHINGTON - One year after the enactment of a sweeping financial reform law, municipal market participants say the overhaul has created an environment of uncertainty, not dramatic change.

LOS ANGELES - A bill moving through the California Legislature would lower the state's short-term borrowing costs with the help of a $1.7 billion cushion from its two public university systems.

LOS ANGELES - Moody's Investors Service Tuesday downgraded Los Angeles' general obligation bonds one notch to Aa3 from Aa2, affecting $3.3 billion of outstanding debt.

WASHINGTON - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board may boost its oversight of the derivatives market, including guaranteed investments contracts that are at the center of a bid-rigging investigation by the Justice Department and other federal and state agencies, an MSRB official said Tuesday.

Rep. John F. Tierney has introduced tax reform legislation that would require all tax-exempt municipal bonds to be issued as direct-pay subsidy bonds at a 28% subsidy rate after this year. The bill is part of an effort to eliminate certain tax expenditures and sway the deficit-reduction negotiations driving the legislative agenda.