Groups Form California Financing Roundtable

SAN FRANCISCO — A national development finance group and an economic development association in California have joined to form a financing roundtable in an effort to make a push in the state.

The Council of Development Finance Agencies and the California Association for Local Economic Development said in a statement Thursday the goal of the new group, the California Financing Roundtable, will be to bring new resources, tools and partners to help grow local economic development in California.

The roundtable is the first CDFA effort in the west. It will be offering webcasts, online resources, live events and a dedicated state finance newsletter in the coming months. Topics will include bonds, redevelopment, tax credits, revolving loan funds, capital access, energy finance, seed and venture capital, and public-private partnerships.

Many believe economic development in California suffered a setback on the local level after the dissolution of redevelopment agencies in 2011. Since then, several pieces of legislation have popped up to try to resurrect some form of redevelopment.

Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed redevelopment-related bills, saying he would like to wait until redevelopment in its current form is wound down. That has been a controversial process.

The complicated end of redevelopment has been rocky for some municipalities, especially those that had become too entwined with their RDAs. It has led some cities and other interested parties to sue the state over the issue.

On Wednesday, the National Federation of Municipal Analysts said it filed an amicus curiae brief in a California Superior Court in support of a lawsuit filed by insurer Syncora Guarantee Inc. over laws that extinguished redevelopment agencies in the state.

The NFMA said in a statement that it rarely files amicus briefs and almost never in trial court, saying the "board felt strongly that an exception should be made in this case given that the matter before the court has such far-reaching ramifications for the municipal bond market."

In August, bond insurer Syncora sued the state in Sacramento County Superior Court, challenging the laws that shutting down redevelopment agencies. It said they imperil bond payments and unconstitutionally impair bondholder and insurers' rights.

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