California

The trifecta of sports team exits, homelessness and city leadership turnover has placed the San Francisco Bay area city on shaky fiscal ground.

The prepaid electricity bond deal issued by the California Community Choice Financing Authority for the Clean Power Allliance was record-setting in size.

AI champ Nvidia and three other tech companies are driving a stock market surge resulting in California revenues coming out $7 billion above expectations set when the 2024-25 budget was approved in July.

Credit ratings and the role of rating agencies have changed in response to an evolving market over the past 16 years, according to speakers during an online California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission.

The wealthy city is borrowing $124.2 million through its finance authority. The bonds are backed by lease payments the city will pay from its general fund.

Voters approved at least 168 local school bond measures for $42.8 billion, according to preliminary tallies, but dozens of bond requests will fall short.

It is the largest measure bond measure the nation's second-biggest school district has ever put before its voters.

Pressure on the state budget level is being felt by both the University of California and California State University systems.

The correction to the municipal market has improved muni to UST ratios while uncertainty hangs over ahead of the election. J.P. Morgan's Peter DeGroot said the firm expects the end of next week "will mark the end of the difficult technical period in 2024 and believe that net supply in November will lead to better valuations broadly in the municipal market."

Several macro trends have converged to drive growth in municipal bond issuance, said participants at The Bond Buyer's California Public Finance conference.

Build America Mutual insured the majority of the maturities in the West Contra Costa Unified School District GO deal.

San Francisco's slow recovery from the pandemic and continued financial pressures drove the downgrade, Moody's analysts said.

State Treasurer Fiona Ma appointed Christina Sarron as executive director of the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority.

Christopher Roberts joins the firm as a managing director, Joey Dierker as an associate director, Soledad Mancias as a municipal underwriter, and Steve Basset as a director.

A preliminary 9.3% return on investments in the year ending June 30 brought CalPERS' funded ratio to 75%, the public pension fund reported.

Craig Brothers, partner, portfolio manager and co-head of fixed income strategy for Bel Air Investments, joins Bond Buyer senior reporter Keeley Webster and discusses why his firm, primarily invested in California debt, has veered away from California GOs and public works revenue bonds in favor of agency, school district and local government debt.

The state received $250 million in federal funding to expand a Salton Sea restoration project in Imperial County, near the Mexican border.

The Equitable School Revolving Fund will have 90 loans outstanding to charter schools across 23 states.

Fitch revised upward its outlook for Marin General Hospital and affirmed its revenue bonds at BBB, and general obligation bonds at AA-minus.

Santa Cruz, on California's coast, was particularly hard hit by flooding in 2023. In addition to the the I-Bank loan, the city secured a federal loan.