California

SAN FRANCISCO — The Oakland-based Bay Area Toll Authority plans to sell $1.3 billion in its first taxable Build America Bond deal next week.

SAN FRANCISCO — Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings yesterday said they planned to upgrade California’s economic recovery bonds after a $3 billion refunding deal next week.

SAN FRANCISCO — A bond deal expected to approach $2 billion is heading for the November calendar, after a California Senate vote this week.

Stanford University has promoted Odile Disch-Bhadkamkar to the new position of treasurer. Her previous post was senior director of finance and bondholder relations.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Sunday designed to make it easier for the San Francisco 49ers to build a new football stadium in Santa Clara.

Through the first quarter of fiscal 2010, California general fund revenue was more than $1 billion below projections, according to state Controller John Chiang’s monthly cash report released Friday.

SAN FRANCISCO — The recent bankruptcies of two community hospitals in California show how difficult the current economic environment is for health care providers — and how much effort is required to actually bankrupt a hospital.

SAN FRANCISCO — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger backed off on a blanket threat to veto more than 700 bills if he didn’t get a water infrastructure deal, taking action on all of them Sunday, his deadline to act on bills the Legislature approved in its 2009 regular session.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Sierra Kings Health District in Reedley, Calif., last week filed for Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy protection after discovering that the proceeds of bond sales in 2006 and 2007 were misused.

SAN FRANCISCO — San Bernardino County, California’s fifth-most populous county, plans to refund $174.4 million of outstanding variable-rate demand obligations after it lost liquidity support for the debt and Moody’s Investors Service put its ratings on negative watch.

SAN FRANCISCO — The tangled tale involving bonds issued for the failed Copia “wine shrine” in Napa, Calif., could reach a major turning point later this month when a bankruptcy judge will consider confirming a plan to conclude the museum’s almost 11-month-old bankruptcy case.

CARLSBAD, Calif. - California is on track to issue about $14 billion of general obligation bonds over the next year, even as the state government continues to battle a highly unbalanced budget, Treasurer Bill Lockyer said.

CARLSBAD, Calif. - As more time passes from last year's credit crises, market access for lower-rated credits is beginning to increase, according to some panelists at yesterday's final sessions of The Bond Buyer's California Public Finance Conference.

SAN FRANCISCO — While many Californians do not feel their state government is working well, they are also skeptical of proposals to reform it, according to the results of a Public Policy Institute of California survey released last week.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Fitch Ratings Tuesday assigned its F2 short-term rating to next week’s $8.8 billion California revenue anticipation note sale, denying the deal a trifecta of top-tier short-term ratings.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — One day after a blue-ribbon commission created to reform California’s tax code held its final meeting, experts from both sides of the political spectrum declared its proposals all but dead on arrival during a panel at The Bond Buyer’s California Public Finance Conference.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — The municipal bond market is slowly recovering from the financial panic of 2008, but it’s still a long way from healed.

SAN FRANCISCO — Despite recent state budget revisions that incorporated weaker revenue forecasts, California general fund revenue was even lower than expected in August, said Controller John Chiang.