Bonds

The Florida Legislature is expected to give its final approval on Friday to the state’s $117 billion fiscal 2023-2025 budget. The state Senate on Tuesday gave a green light to SB 2500, the general appropriations act, which now goes into a constitutionally required 72-hour cooling off period. However, the agreement didn’t include any provisions that

Municipals stayed in their own lane Tuesday, holding mostly steady, while U.S. Treasuries rallied in a flight-to-safety bid as equities sold off on concerns over the banking sector and the threat of a U.S. default over the debt limit. “Wall Street is quickly hitting the sell button as banking turmoil appears it is not going

The Virginia Public School Authority plans to issue $63.2 million of School Technology and Security Notes to support the state’s capital program for school rehabilitation. The five-year, tax-exempt Series XI notes are expected to be issued by competitive sale in denominations of $5,000 on or around May 9, according to the authority. The school authority anticipates

Chicago will tap $53 million of a 2021 budget surplus to fund the ongoing needs of asylum seekers that have flowed into the city from Texas. The city has received some state and federal funding but it falls far short of what’s needed to address the health, food, and housing needs of migrants that Texas

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority cannot afford to pay anything toward its debt, an economist told the bankruptcy judge. Electricity rates need to be lowered for Puerto Rico’s economy to show long-term growth, University of Puerto Rico Professor José Israel Alameda Lozada said in a report submitted Monday. Rates above 16 cents per kilowatt-hour,

When enacting major new legislation like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Biden administration pledged that small, underserved communities would win a fair share of the hundreds of billions of new grant money coming down the pike. But so far, the effort seems to be falling short, according to testimony at a Senate panel hearing Tuesday.

A $44.5 billion two-year budget and legislation that imposes environmental, social, and governance investment rules on Indiana’s public pension systems await Gov. Erick Holcomb’s signature. Lawmakers wrapped up their session Friday after passing the budget in HB1001 after the House and Senate resolved differences in their versions of the budget that followed Holcomb’s earlier this

A massive Arizona participant sports venue that defaulted on its bonds headed to bankruptcy court Monday for a reorganization plan that aims to sell the property. Legacy Cares, Inc., the nonprofit developer of Legacy Park, said in a disclosure notice that it pursued Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal bankruptcy court in Arizona on the advice

In an effort to encourage issuers to use technology to attract new bond investors, BondLink will recognize the best advancements aimed at investors. BondLink, which builds technology products and investor relations pages aimed at helping modernize the muni market, named five winners of its inaugural “Investor Relations Awards.” The winners, five municipalities in three categories,

The Treasury Department has suspended the sale of State and Local Government Series securities in what it characterized as a necessary move to ward off the threat of a default. The suspension is effective for demand deposits and time deposit securities beginning May 2 until further notice, Treasury said. Those subscriptions received by the Bureau

Part one of a two-part series. Buyers of municipal bonds are mutual funds, insurance companies, banks, hedge funds and individuals. The goal of these buyers is to make a profit, and many of the institutional investors have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to do so. Consequently, they do not take into account the impacts

David Hitchcock, who just celebrated 43 years at S&P Global Ratings, retired on Friday. Talking with The Bond Buyer on his last day, Hitchcock said he thought he made a positive difference in the municipal bond industry over the past four decades. “I hope I’ve done some good in the world, at least in terms

Las Vegas, Nevada, had its issuer default rating upgraded to AA from AA-minus by Fitch Ratings, which cited favorable visitor trends, healthier-than-anticipated revenues and federal aid. A stable ratings outlook has been assigned. The upgrade affects the series 2004 limited tax general obligation bonds issued by the Las Vegas Special Improvement District. The special improvement

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bondholders submitted expert reports attacking the Oversight Board’s plan of adjustment’s assumptions and proposed bond provisions. The experts, hired by the bondholders, argue the board’s estimates of money available for paying debt are too pessimistic and the proposed new bonds would lack basic protections for bondholders, increasing the risk they

Kroll Bond Rating Agency upgraded the state of New Jersey’s general obligation bonds to A-plus from A. The move Monday by KBRA followed upgrades from Moody’s Investor Service, S&P Global Ratings, and Fitch Ratings and was the fourth time in less than a month that a major rating agency raised the state’s credit rating. KBRA

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s purchase of First Republic Bank Monday brought some relief to municipal market participants worried that FRB’s sizable municipal portfolio would flood a market already acting cool toward a much smaller portfolio from the now-defunct Silicon Valley Bank. JPMorgan’s move injected a measure of certainty over the near-term fate of FRB’s $19.4

Chicago hits the market this week with more than $1 billion of debt in three long-planned deals that will raise money to replace lead-lined water lines and other water and sewer projects and forward refund debt under the city’s Sales Tax Securitization Corp. The three transactions mark the final market outings under Mayor Lori Lightfoot

Municipals were little changed Monday following the news of JPMorgan’s purchase of muni-laden First Republic Bank, while U.S. Treasury yields rose and equities were in the red to close the session. JPMorgan’s move injected a measure of certainty over the near-term fate of FRB’s $19.4 billion muni portfolio and the market itself. Triple-A yields were

The federal government’s draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on Colorado River conditions isn’t likely to trigger significant rating changes, but it could spur the seven states that use the waterway to reach a consensus on additional supply cuts and the future of the watershed, S&P Global Ratings said. The federal government has encouraged the states

Maine has raised its tax revenue projections. The state legislature’s Revenue Forecasting Committee presented revised revenue projections to lawmakers on Friday, adding $233 million in revenue to the balance of the current fiscal year ending in June as well as a $71 million surplus expected for the $10 billion biennial budget passed at the end

Texas voters will decide the fate of 246 bond propositions totaling $26.67 billion on Saturday as the amount of debt on ballots continues a climb driven by public school district construction projects.  Schools account for 92.5% of the property tax-backed debt in the upcoming election, according to Texas Bond Review Board data. Their new proposals