California

SAN FRANCISCO — Having already experienced a public employee pension-funding crisis, San Diego may emerge ahead of the reform curve as it works to clean up its financial house.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Rocked by the recession, the rural California city of Chowchilla has stopped making payments on the bonds it used to finance its city hall.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Jerry Brown warned that solving California’s budget deficits will be a tough job requiring a lot of sacrifice as he began his second stint as governor Monday.

SAN FRANCISCO — A Superior Court judge has lifted a temporary restraining order that blocked a public-private partnership set to rebuild the southern link to the Golden Gate Bridge.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Jerry Brown took the oath of office for his third term as California governor Monday, promising a straightforward approach to tackling the state’s massive budget deficit.

OAKLAND, Calif. — A Superior Court judge here promised an answer by Monday morning as to whether he will keep in place the temporary restraining order blocking execution of a public-private partnership to rebuild a key access road to the Golden Gate Bridge.

A California court has placed another roadblock in front of the state government's plans to sell 11 office properties to private investors, while entering into long-term leases to occupy the buildings.

Bad legal advice turned a straightforward refunding deal into an expensive mess, a California school district contends in the lawsuit it filed against Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, its bond counsel on the transaction.

The California State Controller's Office has filed a motion in the Vallejo, Calif., bankruptcy case, saying state intercept funds should be used to protect debt owners.

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts has filed another brief in the Vallejo, Calif., bankruptcy case in support of bond insurer National Public Finance Guarantee.

SAN FRANCISCO — A Superior Court judge has granted a restraining order temporarily blocking city and state transportation officials from inking the Presidio Parkway Project deal to upgrade the main roads linking the Golden Gate Bridge with San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Asian Art Museum Foundation won 30 days of breathing room Tuesday to negotiate accelerated payments after the expiration of a letter of credit from JPMorgan Chase & Co. that the San Francisco institution had used to back $120 million of bonds.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The auditor of Bell’s financial reports failed to follow many generally accepted fieldwork audit standards, according to a review published Tuesday by California Controller John Chiang.

California's Business, Transportation & Housing Agency is in the early stages of a plan to remake the state's infrastructure investment market, with a clear focus on public-private partnerships.

California officials announced this week that they have signed an agreement for construction of the first state courthouse financed through a public-private partnership.

The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco faces a deepening financial crisis as its bond rating has been downgraded to junk due to accelerated payments on $120 million of debt.

SAN FRANCISCO — Oakland is eying a controversial plan to sell bonds to help extend a “holiday” from paying growing public-safety pension liabilities, a return to a strategy the city invented 25 years ago.

SAN FRANCISCO — The bankrupt city of Vallejo, Calif., will be losing its top two finance officials.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — California’s governor-elect, Jerry Brown, has to deliver a budget proposal on Jan. 10.

Brian Thomas, chief financial officer of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, will join PFM Group in January as a managing director in its Los Angeles office, the firm announced Wednesday.