California

ALAMEDA, Calif. — California has picked a winning bidder for its plan to sell 11 office buildings and lease them back in a deal that will lead to the redemption or defeasance of more than $1 billion in outstanding lease-revenue debt.

SAN FRANCISCO — Vallejo, Calif.’s bankruptcy ordeal has served as a harsh, precedent-setting example that will keep other cities from filing despite rising fiscal pressures, officials said Friday.

SAN FRANCISCO — Now that ­California has a budget in place after a 100-day delay, finance officials in ­Sacramento are turning their attention to putting long- and short-term borrowing plans into place.

Education and information have become a more valuable tool in the municipal bond market since the meltdown of 2008, participants in The Bond Buyer's California Public Finance Conference said Wednesday.

The panel kicking off Thursday's events at The Bond Buyer's California Public Finance Conference focused on reforming the state's government, but neither the panelists nor those who came to hear them thought that road would be an easy one.

California city and county officials Thursday laid out the budgetary silver linings that exist amid the dark cloud of the financial crisis that has rained hard on municipalities.

California's ratio of debt service to general fund revenue will exceed 7% in fiscal 2011, Treasurer Bill Lockyer said in his annual Debt Affordability Report.

The Rancho California Water District will issue $101 million in Build America Bonds next week to fund capital improvements.

San Jose's auditor said in a recent report that the city is $2 billion short of meeting its $5.4 billion in liabilities for guaranteed pension benefits for current and retired employees.

SAN FRANCISCO — If Thursday’s scheduled votes on a California budget are successful, the state hopes to be in the market with up to $10 billion of revenue anticipation notes sometime in November, Treasurer Bill Lockyer said Wednesday.

Los Angeles-based Wedbush Securities only started senior managing municipal borrowings a decade ago, but after a few years of rapid growth the firm is setting itself ambitious goals.

SAN FRANCISCO — National Public Finance Guarantee Corp. withdrew a motion Monday asking a federal bankruptcy court to allow California state payments to the bankrupt city of Vallejo to flow to bondholders instead.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The California Supreme Court upheld Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s employee furlough policy Monday.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Thursday vetoed a bill that would have expanded the authority of redevelopment agencies into job-creation activities.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — It has been more than six years since San Diego dropped its disclosure bombshell about failing to tell investors of the city’s pension ­underfunding.

SAN FRANCISCO — Lawyers for the city of Vallejo, Calif., said the National Federation of Municipal Analysts failed to back up “apocalyptical” predictions with any evidence in the city’s response to a brief the organization filed in its bankruptcy case.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — California Treasurer Bill Lockyer is preparing to take out a multibillion-dollar bridge loan from major banks once the nation’s most populous state adopts a budget.

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Department of Water Resources will sell $1.9 billion of power revenue bonds next week to refund debt sold after the state’s energy crisis.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Port of Long Beach, Calif., the second-busiest port in the country, could see its rating come under pressure if a local ballot measure passes that would strengthen the hand of the city in its operations.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The city of Bell mismanaged general obligation bond funds, illegally increased taxes and fees, and engaged in numerous practices that suggest possible intentional abuse and misuse of city funds, according to an audit the California controller’s office released Wednesday.