Far West

States have ramped up their clean-energy programs, incorporating more bonds and bond-related financing options, since 2008, according to information compiled by the National Governors Association.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined four firms a total of $62,000 for errors in the reporting of municipal securities transactions, including $25,000 against Goldman, Sachs & Co., the self-regulator announced in monthly disciplinary decisions released Friday.

SAN FRANCISCO — California’s first public-private project got a $1.1 billion boost from the recently passed state budget, which will fund construction of a new six-lane roadway linking San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge.

WASHINGTON — A professional group of accountants is asking the Internal Revenue Service to give large nonprofit hospitals a grace period of at least three years to fix any tax compliance problems that could jeopardize their tax-exempt status.

Most municipal analysts bristle at the claim that California will “become the next Greece.”

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco is laying the foundation for a $600 million-plus rehab of 69 acres of waterfront that will need a big chunk of public financing.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The California attorney general’s office plans to seek a court order placing the troubled city of Bell under some sort of receivership or monitoring.

WASHINGTON — As the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board begins to regulate an anxious and skeptical non-dealer advisory community, its new chairman, Michael Bartolotta of Dallas-based First Southwest Co., the largest dealer-advisory firm in the nation, is stressing that the MSRB’s rules will be fair to all regulated market participants.

WASHINGTON — The top Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is opposing a recent Obama administration plan to invest in transportation, warning it is a year late and unacceptable because it would be paid for by ending tax loopholes for oil companies.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday that it has signed off on a Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board proposal to post ratings directly onto the board’s EMMA site.