California

Between two state measures and one regional, California starts with $40 billion of GO bonds on the November ballot, before any other local measures are tallied.

The Contra Costa County Office of Education gave West Contra Costa Unified School District until July 17 to pass a budget, or have the county office step in.

Two universities at opposite ends of the state received Moody's downgrades this week.

In the first half of 2024, winding-down federal aid, a resurgence of Build America Bond refundings and election uncertainty have contributed to the surge in issuance, said James Welch, a portfolio manager at Principal Asset Management.

California lawmakers were putting the finishing touches on the budget this week before the start of the fiscal year on July 1.

Two initiatives were dropped from the California ballot as Gov. Gavin Newsom worked to secure a legislative fix.

The agreement includes plans for a bill creating a constitutional amendment to allow the state to set aside greater sums in reserves.

The California Supreme Court issued an opinion Thursday blocking an anti-tax measure from November's ballot.

Existing California law requires hospitals to be fully operational after a large earthquake by 2030. The Senate has passed a bill to extend the deadline.

The City of Angels is the latest in recent days to score a ratings upgrade as Fitch reviews its local government ratings using amended criteria.

Ten other pension obligation bonds are under review by Fitch Ratings as a result of the agency's new local government criteria.

The one-notch upgrade from Fitch Ratings comes as the county plans to to sell up to $900 million in two lease revenue bond deals this summer.

"It would be irresponsible for us to ignore factors that can fundamentally impact the long-term viability of investments," said CalPERS interim Chief Investment Officer Dan Bienvenue of climate risks.

"The shortage of accountants is not a brand new-issue, but it seems to be more thematic this year," said Richard Ciccarone, president emeritus of Merritt Research Services.

Moody's Ratings analysts revised the outlook to stable from negative on the expectation that states and locals will fill an $8 billion operations funding gap.

Co-authors of a bill to authorize a tax measure seen as crucial to Bay Area transit killed it amid opposition from multiple quarters.

May volume "surprised on the high end and it has been one of the fastest starts to the year historically," said James Pruskowski, chief investment officer at 16Rock Asset Management.

Democratic leaders in the Assembly and Senate said they restored some of Gavin Newsom's proposed deficit-reducing cuts in their budget proposal.

Fifteen years after a $9.9 billion bond issue that was to finance a substantial portion of a new high-speed rail line across California, the proposal "has become one of the most troubled megaprojects in the nation," said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo.

California senators approved a tax measure to raise $1.5 billion after the bill's author promised further tweaks to occur on the Assembly side.