California

California Treasurer John Chiang on Thursday appointed 12 individuals to a task force he commissioned to develop best practice guidelines on the fiduciary care and use of state and local bond proceeds.

San Diego is moving ahead with plans to price $120 million in bonds in April in the face of an appeal of a court ruling that the city can legally issue the bonds.

Franklin Templeton Investments filed its first brief on March 25 appealing the ruling that allowed Stockton to exit bankruptcy.

Standard & Poor’s joined Fitch Ratings in upgrading the rating on the California Department of Water Resources power revenue bonds.

Fitch Ratings upgraded bonds issued by the California Department of Water Resources after a state of emergency was declared in 2001 to deal with soaring energy prices.

Tobacco bonds may be on their way to the biggest volume since 2007, led by Wednesday's $1.7 billion sale from California, as issuers refinance amid a decline in smoking that's cut deeply into revenue.

Brian White, chief executive of the $10.4 billion San Diego County Employees Retirement Association, has resigned effective March 30.

Municipalities in fiscal crisis faced diminished abilities to manage federal grants because of workforce reductions, decreased financial capacities and outdated information technologies, the U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded in a report.

Fitch Ratings upgraded San Francisco Community College District, Calif.’s general obligation bonds to A from BBB-plus.

A coalition comprised of businesses, labor union, community groups and non-profits took a significant step forward on plans to build a desalinization plant in Huntington Beach, Calif.,

California lawmakers proposed legislation to accelerate more than $1 billion in bond spending for drought relief as the state enters its fourth year of drought.

Bel Air Investment Advisors LLC opens, a Los Angeles-area firm that manages $7 billion in assets including many munis, opened a San Francisco office as part of a larger expansion plan.

Ports on the West Coast are recovering from the cargo backup that developed during a recent labor dispute and are turning their attention to long-term strategic threats from ports in other regions.

Richard Jones has been tapped to head Nixon Peabody LLP's public finance practice.

California's Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency failed again to get approvals from a water board needed to move ahead on a five-mile extension of one of its toll roads.

Phillip Washington, chief executive of the Regional Transportation District in Denver, was named to head the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The official decline in the number of fiscally-stressed California schools is a credit positive, according to Moody's Investors Service.

A report from the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission showed that school districts’ need for short-term borrowing declined in lock-step with the passage of Proposition 30

The written opinion issued by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein in Stockton’s bankruptcy conveys a mixed message for investors, according to a Moody's Investors Service report.

The California Supreme Court will review appellate court ruling that San Diego Association of Government's 40-year transportation did not meet environmental laws.