California

SAN FRANCISCO — The University of California will sell $760 million of mostly taxable Build America Bonds next week to help finance upgrades to three medical centers.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Two years after voters north of San Francisco approved a sales tax to finance a new commuter rail line, the start of construction is in sight and the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit District prepares for its first bond issue.

SAN FRANCISCO — California cities and counties could conceivably issue clouds of bonds backed by more than $1 billion a year in marijuana-related tax revenue if Proposition 19 passes Tuesday, transforming a decades-old pipe dream into reality.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — California Treasurer Bill Lockyer, after jousting with credit ratings agencies for most of his first term, says he’ll carry on if he wins re-election Tuesday.

SAN FRANCISCO — Chevron Corp., the second-largest integrated oil company in the United States, will benefit from a record amount of tax-exempt recovery zone facility bonds next month to upgrade the biggest refinery in the lucrative California energy market.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The Securities and Exchange Commission crossed a new threshold this week by securing financial penalties against individual city officials in a municipal bond fraud case.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Vallejo, Calif., appointed a new interim city manager this week.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — California has closed a $6.7 billion bridge loan with six financial institutions to help the state through a cash crunch, Treasurer Bill Lockyer announced Tuesday afternoon.

WASHINGTON — California and Florida are the biggest winners of high-speed rail grants, securing $1.7 billion out of a total of $2.5 billion to help close ­funding gaps for ambitious rail projects that have already received large federal grants.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The California treasurer’s office is firming up details for a temporary cash-flow loan it expects to close next week, allowing the state to resume paying tax refunds and catch up on payments due to local agencies.

SAN FRANCISCO — California’s Bay Area Toll Authority will sell $800 million of taxable and tax-exempt debt this week to help fund massive modernization projects that include replacement of the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — A civil jury in Sacramento rejected professional negligence claims last week against attorneys and a pension consultant involved in setting up a controversial pension system for Sacramento City Unified School District administrators.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have allowed local governments to use bonds to securitize the state’s promise to repay them for the cost of implementing unfunded mandates prior to 2004

SAN FRANCISCO — State and local transportation agencies have penciled in the winning bid to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the Presidio Parkway Project, California’s first public-private partnership.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating bonds issued by the city of Bell.

SAN FRANCISCO — California’s first public-private project got a $1.1 billion boost from the recently passed state budget, which will fund construction of a new six-lane roadway linking San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Most municipal analysts bristle at the claim that California will “become the next Greece.”

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco is laying the foundation for a $600 million-plus rehab of 69 acres of waterfront that will need a big chunk of public financing.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The California attorney general’s office plans to seek a court order placing the troubled city of Bell under some sort of receivership or monitoring.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The recently adopted California budget dumps a huge problem into the lap of the next governor and Legislature, according to the state’s independent Legislative Analyst’s Office.