Far West

Alaska general fund spending would grow more than 8.5% in fiscal 2011, under the budget proposal Gov. Sean Parnell delivered Monday.

The House last night was expected to approve a jobs bill that would expand two tax-credit bond programs for school projects to allow state and local issuers to receive direct Build America Bond-style payments from the Treasury Department instead of investors receiving tax credits.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is moving forward with a sweeping but informal inquiry into the manner in which Miami presented its financial condition in offering documents for bonds issued in 2007.

The California Department of Finance reported this week that revenue continues to flow into the general fund at a weaker-than-projected pace.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco has provided $167 million in letters of credit for non-housing tax-exempt bonds since legislation authorized the transactions last year.

Federal stimulus money is keeping states spending even as most sources of revenue dry up. In its annual report on state expenditures, the National Association of State Budget Officers estimated states spent $1.593 trillion in fiscal 2009, which for most states ended June 30.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined Scottsdale, Ariz.-based First Financial Equity Corp. and New York-based Whitaker Securities LLC a total of $25,000 for municipal securities trade reporting violations.

Federal lawmakers will have to become more comfortable with tolling highways, tunnels, and bridges if they want to obtain the revenues needed to create a national infrastructure bank or fund large capital projects in the future, transportation advocates said yesterday.

A coalition of publicly traded, non-bank corporations that own billions of dollars of illiquid student loan auction-rate securities is pushing for a federal liquidity backstop so they can sell the ARS and have money to invest in their businesses.

Appearing before the California Assembly Budget Committee, Treasurer Bill Lockyer this week restated warnings he has issued about the state's rising debt-service costs.