California

California and federal officials  reached a $10 million settlement with the owners of a chain of non-profit health clinics and a laboratory in a case involving Medi-Cal and Medicare fraud.

Enviva's bankruptcy is the latest Chapter 11 bankruptcy where green private activity bonds are restructured to near zero.

The muni market saw $507.585 billion of debt issued in 2024, up 31.8% from $385.061 in 2023. This surpasses the previous record of $484.601 billion in 2020 by more than $20 billion, per LSEG data.

San Francisco's "tepid" recovery from the pandemic was cited by Fitch.

A decline in debt service coverage drove S&P's four-notch downgrade for Salinas, California, sewer revenue debt, which it placed on CreditWatch negative.

Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association has until the end of January to file briefs in its case challenging San Jose's pension obligation bond validation.

S&P Global Ratings downgraded San Francisco's debt a notch to AA-plus from AAA citing weakened economic trends and deficit spending. Moody's Ratings lowered it's rating a notch to Aa1 in October.

The San Diego County-based hospital system's financial woes were dire enough to earn junk ratings from Fitch Ratings, Moody's Ratings and S&P Global Ratings earlier this year. Fitch further downgraded the already junk ratings on Wednesday.

The Trump administration may cut the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, which threatens to land on a hospital sector still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

While tax and bond measures fared well in California's November election, reformers are taking aim at the state's slow certification process.