California

Standard & Poor’s downgrade of California last week raises a crucial question: does the Golden State’s debt at some point become no longer appropriate for conservative retail investors?

SAN FRANCISCO — Efforts in California to develop community choice aggregation as an alternative path to public power have been slow to get off the ground.

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Diego County Water Authority, California’s third-largest urban water agency, this week plans to price $639 million of water revenue bonds, including its first Build America Bonds.

SAN FRANCISCO — The often contentious relationship between California and its local governments appears to be ­heading back to the electoral battlefield this year.

Matt Dalton is willing to buy the debt of a bankrupt borrower — and he can’t find any for sale at a suitable price.

Only in municipal bonds.Matt Dalton is willing to buy the debt of a bankrupt borrower — and he can’t find any for sale at a suitable price.

California Treasurer Bill Lockyer will have an opponent in November.

The Bay Area Toll Authority’s oversight committee on Wednesday approved toll hikes on the seven state owned toll bridges in the San Francisco Area. The toll hikes must now be approved by the Oakland-based agency’s full board.

SAN FRANCISCO — Citing California’s “severe” budget imbalance and the likely reappearance of cash-flow problems, Standard & Poor’s yesterday downgraded the state’s general obligation bond rating to A-minus from A. The agency continues to assign a negative outlook.

SAN FRANCISCO — Not only is California facing a huge budget deficit, but lawmakers and the governor have a very short time to fix it to keep things from getting farther out of balance, the state’s independent Legislative Analyst’s Office reported Tuesday.

SAN FRANCISCO — Los Angeles County, the nation’s largest, may be forced to make deep budget cuts to balance its fiscal 2010-2011 general fund budget in the face of new state budget cuts and continued weakness in revenue collections, officials said Tuesday.

SAN FRANCISCO — The builders of what they say will be the biggest water desalination plant in the nation are now slated to ask for more than one-half billion dollars of private-activity bond allocation by the end of the month.

SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled his initial fiscal 2011 budget proposal Friday, asking for almost $7 billion in federal funds to help close a budget hole in the $20 billion range.

SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled his initial fiscal 2011 budget proposal today, which calls for “external borrowing” as part of plans to manage cash flow as the state attempts to close a hole of almost $20 billion.

SAN FRANCISCO — After putting an optimistic spin on his final state of the state address Wednesday, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will address the grim specifics of the state’s budget today, unveiling his formal proposal to close a general fund gap pegged at almost $20 billion over the next 18 months.

SAN FRANCISCO — While acknowledging the continuing severity of California’s budget crisis, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger highlighted new spending proposals during his final state of the state address yesterday.

SAN FRANCISCO — California’s budget problems will be back in the spotlight this week.

SAN FRANCISCO — California Treasurer Bill Lockyer has appointed treasurer’s office veteran Barbara Tanaka as deputy executive director of the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission.

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Pollution Control Financing Authority has $590 million in new allocation for private-activity bond debt, after of a flurry of activity this month by the state’s debt limit committee to distribute almost $1.8 billion in volume cap before the end of the year.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded the Port of Oakland's senior-lien revenue bonds to A2 from A1 on weakness in both seaport and airport revenue.