California

California Controller John Chiang released reports Tuesday finding unallowable transfers by the redevelopment agencies of Milpitas and Morgan Hill.

California's state auditor released a report this week that said the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's use of toll revenues to purchase a building to serve as a new San Francisco headquarters was likely legal.

California Gov. Jerry Brown laid out Tuesday a pension reform agreement with lawmakers, setting the table for major legislative changes to local and state worker pensions.

California's state auditor wants lawmakers to clarify the law to make sure private firms operating conduit issuers avoid conflicts of interest.

Attorneys for Stockton, Calif., and its creditors hammered out a schedule and tipped their hats to the fight ahead during the first hearing on the city's bankruptcy case.

California saw debt sales by municipal issuers almost double in the region in the first half of 2012 compared to a year earlier with the help of record low rates, driving Far West volume.

Standard & Poor's has changed its outlook on Fairfield, Calif.'s pension obligation bonds long-term A rating to negative from stable due to the city's projected large budget gap.

Santa Cruz County has said it may have to draw on bond reserves to make a Sept. 1 debt service payment for redevelopment bonds if it is forced to make the payments of former redevelopment tax money as outlined by California.

Standard & Poor's downgraded Fresno, Calif.'s issuer rating to BBB from A due to its continued weak finances.

California's state auditor said in a report Tuesday that San Jose officials provided "inadequately supported" estimates in bond documents that said its retirement costs would increase to $400 million by fiscal 2016.

California says 27 local governments owe more than $120 million of redevelopment agency tax money.

Moody's Investors Service is considering across-the-board and targeted downgrades in California in the aftermath of the state's recent municipal bankruptcies.

A new push is on in California to readdress whether some nonprofit hospitals deserve their tax-exempt status.

Fitch Ratings affirmed its AA-minus rating on Bay Area Toll Authority senior toll bridge revenue bonds in a report on $305 million of BATA debt set to be reoffered next month.

California State Controller John Chiang said Monday revenues in July came in $475 million below estimates in the state budget.

California plans more than $2 billion in GO bond sales this fall, including $1.6 billion Sept. 25.

Bond insurer Syncora Guarantee Inc. sued to challenge California measures dissolving local redevelopment agencies, saying they jeopardize bond payments and impair bondholder and insurer rights.

JPMorgan wants California's Peralta Community College District to make good on a type of refinancing that may now be illegal, according to a complaint filed Monday.

Stockton, Calif.'s bond insurers are contesting the city's bankruptcy filing, saying it is unfairly targeting bondholders while asking nothing from its largest unsecured creditor, the California Public Employees' Retirement System.

California's Ran sale will be almost twice as large as its 2011 note sale, as the state's normally uneven cash-flow schedule has an additional layer of uncertainty because of a November tax ballot measure.