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Tag "Moody’s"

Despite $59.7 million error, key Prop 30 education account gets OK’d in audit

A key provision from a 2012 ballot measure that taxed top incomes to fund education was recently given a clean bill of health by the state controller’s office, just in time for voters to consider a 12-year extension of the program. The

Moody’s: Energy edict will hammer SoCal municipal utilities

Chris Reed October 23, 2015

Assembly Bill 32, the landmark 2006 law requiring California to begin shifting to cleaner-but-costlier forms of renewable energy, hasn’t hit consumers as hard as some economists feared for an ironic reason: Dirtier “brown energy” got cheaper. The U.S. fracking/shale revolution

L.A. budget gets good marks, but big obstacles ahead

Chris Reed May 30, 2015

A few years ago, the Los Angeles city government appeared to be hurtling toward the fiscal abyss because of heavy pension costs for police and firefighters and a sluggish local economy. But a pension reform measure and a relatively tough

SoCal water reserves could dry up in 2016

Wayne Lusvardi September 24, 2014

The nearby photo shows the recent demolition of a 160-foot water tank tower at Edwards Air Force Base northeast of Lancaster. Could it be a prophetic image for Southern California’s future? The Associated Press reported the area’s regional water supplier, the Metropolitan Water District

Moody’s raises questions about teacher pension funding fix

Chris Reed August 15, 2014

Soon after the CalSTRS funding fix crafted by the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown took effect on July 1, Moody’s Investors Service raised CalSTRS’ bond issuer rating. But six weeks later, Moody’s has put out another release that examines how much

Federal Reserve warns, Calif., other municipal bonds very risky

CalWatchdog Staff August 20, 2012

Aug. 20, 2012 By Chriss Street Last week, we first reported first that “Permanent Link to Calif. sales tax revenue nosedives 33.5%,” then that “Moody’s warns of mass Calif. municipal bankruptcies.” During the Great Recession of the last four years,

Moody’s warns of mass Calif. municipal bankruptcies

CalWatchdog Staff August 18, 2012

Aug. 18, 2012 By Chriss Street The klaxon horn went off Friday evening for California municipal bondholders when Moody’s Investors Services issued a report stating that the plummeting financial condition of many California counties, cities, school districts and other government

The train that broke California’s back

CalWatchdog Staff July 12, 2012

July 12, 2012 By Chriss Street The state of California was already facing a $19 billion budget deficit, had shorted K-12 public schools $8 billion and are releasing imprisoned rapists into the “community probation” when the California Legislature’s Democratic majority

CA Credit Rating Nothing to Celebrate

Joseph Perkins January 17, 2012

JAN. 17, 2012 They were slapping high fives in the offices of state Treasurer Bill Lockyer this week. Why the celebration? Because California no longer has the nation’s worst credit rating, according to Moody’s Investors Service. “The reason we’ve improved

CA Running Massive Cash Deficit

CalWatchdog Staff January 12, 2012

JAN. 12, 2012 By CHRISS STREET The California state government’s general fund is running a staggering cash deficit of $21 billion on an $88.5 billion budget. The number comes from Controller John Chaing just-released financial statement for December 2011. The