Bonds

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors. A power struggle over the governance of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, a university’s claims of federal agency retaliation for suing the Department of Education leading to a Moody’s ratings downgrade, and a Houston mayor ending a legal dispute with firefighters that could

Global exports from Kentucky rose 16.6% year-over-year to a record high of $40.2 billion in 2023, as more products made in the Bluegrass State were shipped around the world. Aerospace products and parts led the state’s exports by category in 2023, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau, Foreign Trade Division and WISERTrade.

Washington State lawmakers approved a $14.6 billion supplemental transportation budget that adds $1 billion to the 2023-25 biennium budget approved in July. The House approved the bill on Saturday in a 93-to-2 vote, while senators voted 48-to-1 in favor Tuesday. The budget prioritizes roadway preservation and funding for Washington state ferries. Lawmakers have until March

February volume surged year-over-year as pent-up issuance needs, increased investor demand and a more stable muni interest rate environment led issuers to come to market. February is a historically low issuance month and 2023 levels — the lowest month of issuance in a down year — were low even for February standards, so the total

Municipal bond mutual funds saw small inflows, the secondary market showed constructive trading with firmer prints in spots and the asset class is likely to see slightly positive returns for the month. Equities ended in the black, with the Nasdaq leading the rally. Triple-A yields were bumped a basis point or two, depending on the

A wave of tax cuts that states passed amid COVID-related surpluses may prove a financial problem for the medium and long term, analysts said Thursday. “The examination of states’ post-pandemic fiscal trajectories reveals a concerning trend: revenue growth has decelerated in many states and the implementation of permanent tax cuts could leave some with depleted

A bill that includes additional bonding authority for a University of Utah Health medical campus project hit with ballooning costs passed the legislature Wednesday.  A provision in Senate Bill 241 would increase the amount of revenue bonds for the West Valley Health and Community Center to $800 million from $400 million. The University of Utah

The Biden administration Thursday sent out nearly $10 billion in public transit funding to fulfill the first five months of fiscal 2024 appropriations despite the lack of a full-year spending plan from Congress. The partial-year funding — from last October through March 1 — keeps spending flat at fiscal 2023 levels while the government operates

Indiana saw a tax revenue windfall in January, with general fund revenues coming in 15.8% above last January’s number and 9.3% above December’s projections. But the office of Chief Economist Hari Razafindramanana cautioned that individual income tax collections surpassed estimates only because of “unusual timing factors that are currently expected to normalize… over the coming

The Internal Revenue Service would allow tax-exempt bonds to be issued for space infrastructure under bipartisan legislation introduced Wednesday in Congress, with supporters like the state of Florida saying spaceports should have the same access to low-cost financing as air and seaports. “As adversaries like China continue to expand their presence in space, it’s imperative

The executive director of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, which is undertaking a $5 billion, bond-financed expansion program, resigned Wednesday after the state attorney general issued an opinion regarding the legality of holding multiple governmental offices. The opinion served as the effective resignation of Tim Gatz, who has headed the OTA since 2016, according to a

West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore warned six more financial institutions that they may be placed on the state’s “Restricted Financial Institution List” if they are found to be “boycotting” the fossil fuels industry. The blacklist is authorized in a 2022 state law spearheaded by Moore authorizing the State Treasury to restrict financial institutions that

Puerto Rico leaders and analysts highlighted fiscal risks facing Puerto Rico’s central government, including a change in how multinationals are taxed, that could, if unresolved, jeopardize future bond payments. At the Puerto Rico Oversight Board meeting Wednesday, board Executive Director Robert Mujica Jr. said the government faced major risks in the coming fiscal years, including

Municipals were mostly steady in secondary trading Wednesday with the focus on the primary market as New York City saw yields rise significantly on the short end as institutional investors demanded more ahead of a growing New York issuance slate. U.S. Treasuries were firmer and equities ended down. The Investment Company Institute reported inflows into

The city of Los Angeles will receive nearly $60 million in long-awaited federal reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover housing expenses associated with the COVID-19 pandemic as part of a larger $300 million package of pandemic-related funding. City officials learned of the reimbursements from the California Office of Emergency Services in one

Proponents of the Modernizing Agricultural and Manufacturing Bonds Act which could expand aggie bond issuance are pessimistic about the possibility of any congressional movement this year.  Versions of MAMBA have been bouncing around in both houses of Congress since 2017 as a proposed bipartisan update to regulations governing aggie bonds. The legislation is also designed

Morgan Stanley has hired four former Citi public finance employees, becoming the latest firm to tap the talent from Citi’s shuttered municipal business. Three of the new hires will be group heads in key public sector and structured finance businesses, a source said. Alex Zaman is the new head of Surface Transportation and Urban Development

Legal challenges to New York City’s congestion pricing plan threaten to delay much-needed repairs to the city’s century-old transit system, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said.  The authority on Monday cautioned that repairs on elevated rail lines, upgrades on substations to keep power running and maintaining shop and yard facilities — all deemed state-of-good-repair work —

Norton Rose Fulbright hired public finance lawyers Alison Radecki as a partner and Helen Pennock as a senior counsel. Both will work in the firm’s New York City office and formerly worked at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. They are licensed to practice in New York. Radecki has more than two decades of experience helping issuers

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy Tuesday unveiled a $55.9 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2025 that would impose a new Corporate Transit Fee on the state’s largest and wealthiest corporations to create a “new, dedicated, and permanent funding stream” for NJ Transit. The fee, which would affect about 600 companies with net taxable income greater

The Biden administration is expected to announce a $1.5 billion federal loan to repower a shuttered Michigan nuclear plant, marking a first for the U.S. as the administration’s seeks to move the country toward 100% carbon-free power in the coming decades. The Palisades power plant in southwest Michigan, owned now by Holtec International, was decommissioned