Far West

SAN FRANCISCO — San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said California’s second-most populous city has no need for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in an op-ed article published in the San Diego Union-Tribune Sunday.

WASHINGTON — Members of the Government Finance Officers Association’s governmental debt management committee on Friday unanimously agreed to propose a revised policy on direct-subsidy and tax-credit bonds that acknowledges Build America Bonds have emerged as a significant sector of the municipal market.

Several municipal issuers and their advisers last week criticized efforts by bond attorneys to help the SEC clarify its forthcoming disclosure guidance, complaining that it does not understand the unique sets of challenges confronted by municipal issuers and does not have the personnel to learn about them.

SAN FRANCISCO — After appearing to close a long debate in December with the decision to award construction contracts for a rail link to the Oakland International Airport, the Bay Area Rapid Transit District now faces the threat of losing $70 million in federal stimulus funding on civil rights grounds.

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco International Airport plans to refund $215.9 million of fixed-rate debt with variable-rate demand obligations next week, as it seeks to pair debt with forward swaps it agreed to enter before the financial crisis.

WASHINGTON — High-speed rail proponents rejoiced yesterday after President Obama announced the Federal Railroad Administration has awarded 31 states with a total of $8 billion of high-speed rail grants, the largest of which will go to California, Florida, and the Midwest region.

SACRAMENTO — The California Debt Limit Allocation Committee this week assigned $530 million of private-activity bond volume cap for construction of a water desalination plant in San Diego County.

WASHINGTON — The Senate Thursday approved legislation to raise the debt limit to $14.3 trillion and ensure the Treasury Department will be able to keep open into 2011 its window for state and local government series securities, which municipal issuers purchase for refunding escrows to avoid earning arbitrage.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday voted 4 to 1 to approve a series of changes to its Rule 2a-7 on money market funds aimed at boosting the resilience of funds during market crises, and promised to move forward with additional rules in the future.

WASHINGTON — President Obama wants to freeze non-military discretionary spending for three years to save $250 billion over the next decade, but market participants in states, transportation, and other infrastructure sectors are not panicking yet.