California

The rating on $481.6 million of general obligation bonds issued by Palomar Pomerado Health was dropped one notch to A-plus on Dec. 23.

The California Supreme Court upheld a law that would allow the dissolution of the state's redevelopment agencies, but struck down a bill that would have allowed the agencies to remain in business if they were willing to pay a percentage of their income into a fund to help pay the state's education costs.

The Southern California Logistics Airport Authority has defaulted on more bonds after discovering it can't use reserves to make principal payments for some of its debt.

A small public utilities district in California is trying to prevent its doors from closing after voters exercised their authority to lower their water rates below what district officials say is needed to sustain operations.

Standard & Poor’s upgraded Ontario, Calif.’s 2004 series of water system certificates of participation to AA from AA-minus.

Santa Ana, Calif., was able to ratify agreements with its police and service employee unions this week, halving its projected $30 million budget deficit for next year and quelling talk of a potential bankruptcy, according to published reports.

Orange County, Calif., is losing a financial expert just a month after the Board of Supervisors boldly told the state it plans to keep $73.5 million in local property taxes typically earmarked for schools to make up for what it saw as the state’s illegal taking of $49.5 million in vehicle license fees.

Contra Costa County’s pension system is suing the county over wage and benefits cuts for the system’s managers.

California completed a restructuring of its commercial paper program that resulted in a downgrade to one subseries of notes.

The California Society of Municipal Analysts awarded Jennifer Johnston, a vice president and research analyst with Franklin Templeton, with its inaugural Amy S. Doppelt Award for Meritorious Service.

Republicans complained about the skyrocketing cost and lack of administrative transparency surrounding the construction of the California high-speed rail project, while Democrats and regulators steadfastly defended the partially bond-financed project as an antidote to gridlock and a way to create jobs.

Nearly a year after an entirely new slate of City Council members were elected to replace corrupt officials, Bell, Calif., a Los Angeles-area working-class city of 50,000, is beginning to find its financial footing.

Los Angeles County supervisors are balking at a proposal from the county sheriff's department to issue $1.4 billion of bonds to rebuild the 5,000-bed Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles.

Standard & Poor's said California's midyear budget cuts are a credit positive, but its efforts to improve its budget through those cuts could be undermined if the cuts are thwarted.

Moody’s Investors Service Tuesday withdrew its ratings on the Vallejo Unified School District’s general obligation bonds, certificates of obligation, and special tax bonds, citing insufficient information.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has solid early support for his initiative scheduled for the November ballot to temporarily raise sales taxes and taxes on the wealthy.

California Treasurer Bill Lockyer resigned from the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research pension advisory panel in protest over a study it released.

Officials in the troubled Los Angeles-area city of Vernon are contemplating a possible bond issuance, among other remedies, to pay for $60 million in grants for parks and recreational facilities that were agreed to during the legislative session in order to stave off the threat of disincorporation, according to published reports.

Bank downgrades and looming changes to bank collateral requirements under Basil III compelled San Diego-based Point Loma Nazarene University to sell its bonds directly to Bank of America rather than renewing a letter of credit due to expire this month.

Vernon, the Los Angeles-area city nearly disincorporated by the California Legislature in September, has received two divergent ratings on its $471 million of outstanding electric revenue bonds and a $73 million electric revenue bond issue planned for Wednesday.