Bonds

Tarrant County, Texas, will be authorized to issue $400 million of transportation bonds if voters approve the proposal Nov. 2. The bond issue by the fast-growing county that includes Fort Worth and its booming suburbs would be its first for transportation since 2006. Proposition A splits the $400 million into two categories. Half of the

State and local governments would be encouraged to consider public-private partnerships for complicated projects like rural broadband or large transportation developments under the bipartisan infrastructure bill being debated by Congress this week. The legislation doubles private activity bond volume for surface transportation projects to $30 billion from $15 billion, a central financing tool for P3

WASHINGTON — Robert Kaplan, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, announced that he would step down next week, just hours after Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said he would resign. Kaplan said Monday afternoon he wanted “to eliminate any distractions” at the Fed after it was revealed that he had engaged in

Dan Hynes, the former Illinois deputy governor for budget and the economy, joined Jefferies LLC this month where he will work to elevate the firm’s presence in the state and in the broader Midwest. Hynes hopes to parlay his public experience “in the trenches” of state government to build on the firm’s Illinois and Midwest

Problems distributing ballots to potential voters on the Puerto Rico Plan of Adjustment have led to calls to push back the Oct. 4 voting deadline, and this may potentially push back the plan confirmation. The Official Committee of Retired Employees on Thursday filed a motion to have the deadline pushed from 5 p.m., Oct. 4

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed 24 bills that allocate $15 billion to further the state’s efforts to combat climate change, drought and wildfires. The total includes additional funding agreed to by the Legislature after the $261.4 billion budget was passed by the constitutional deadline and signed by the governor in July, but also some funding

Muni issuers are considering and beginning to roll out blockchain based solutions, including distributed ledger technology for various muni projects, but the market remains nascent. The introduction of blockchain and its use of digital ledger technology caught market attention in 2016 as a banking alternative that could transform operating systems, and for munis, promised the

Municipal yields edged higher Friday as selling pressure emerged early and buyers greeted it by demanding some concessions, though municipals still outperformed taxables by a large degree on the week. Triple-A benchmark yields rose another two to three basis points, moving the municipal 10-year to 1% on both Refinitiv MMD and ICE Data Services scales.

The Puerto Rico House of Representatives could approve next week restructured bonds for the Puerto Rico bankruptcy, which may move the process along. House Speaker Rafael Hernández Montañez plans to submit a bill to allow the sale ofrestructured bonds consistent with the proposed Plan of Adjustment, said Lilliam Maldonado, spokesperson for Rep. Jesús Santa Rodríguez,

Cities have spent the last decade seeking the kind of federal support found in the bipartisan infrastructure bill that the House may vote on as soon as Monday, said mayors and representatives from the National Urban League in a press conference today. “Mayors in the U.S. have been in infrastructure week for over a decade

Municipals could not ignore broader markets and triple-A scales cut levels by two to three basis points along the curve, but again largely outperformed a major risk-on trade Thursday that moved U.S. Treasuries to trade off double digits while equities boomed. Secondary trading showed weaker prints into the early afternoon. Large blocks of benchmark credits

Hawaii received two outlook boosts ahead of plans to price $1.9 billion in taxable general obligation bonds. S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook on Hawaii’s GOs to stable from negative Tuesday and affirmed its AA-plus rating. Moody’s Investors Service revised the outlook on the GOs to positive from stable Monday and affirmed its Aa2 rating.

Municipals sat tight again Wednesday as broader markets digested the Federal Open Market Committee leaving interest rates unchanged and noting the tapering process may begin sooner. The news was largely expected and U.S. Treasuries ended the day a touch firmer while equities made up for lost ground though pared back earlier gains. “The biggest news

The effects of climate change and rising sea levels pose credit quality risks for Florida issuers, according to S&P Global Ratings. Florida’s long coastline, low elevation and susceptibility to severe weather events increases its environmental risks when compared to most other states, S&P said when it analyzed the environmental, social and governance credit factors for

S&P Global Ratings has singled out states’ underfunding of retiree medical benefits as a key credit risk for states. States continued to sharply underfund their OPEB plans and unfunded liabilities ticked upward in fiscal 2020, S&P analysts reported in their annual survey published Monday. During the economic expansion preceding the pandemic, few states pursued and

A New Jersey Superior Court has ruled that a variable-rate demand obligation qui tam claim brought in the state of New Jersey by Minnesota-based municipal advisor Johan Rosenberg via Edelweiss Fund LLC, can continue to discovery. In the Sept. 13 ruling, Judge Douglas H. Hurd denied the motion to dismiss proffered by defendants JPMorgan Chase

Municipals largely ignored the rally in U.S. Treasuries and a massive selloff in equities as participants await another large new-issue week. Without the primary in play and a mostly muted secondary, triple-A benchmark yield curves were little changed, coming nowhere near the moves in Treasuries as the 10- and 30-year UST fell five and six

The Oklahoma Department of Education is facing the first audit in its history after a funding scandal involving the state’s largest charter school operator. Gov. Kevin Stitt last week ordered the audit of the entire department after a previous audit of the Epic Charter Schools cited misuse of funds, including the application of state funds

Tax law changes and bond provisions included in the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package being debated in Washington likely will shift the demand components for and the makeup of the muni market in dramatic ways in the coming decade. The market is closely watching Washington to see whether the proposed tax law changes — higher rates

Rebounding casino and new online gambling tax revenues will give Detroit’s general fund a boost this year and in the coming ones as it tackles looming pension contribution pressures. The city’s estimating conference revised general fund projections for the fiscal 2022 which began July 1 to $1.1 billion from $995 million thanks mostly to $66

The Puerto Rico Oversight Board reiterated its position on pension cuts in the Plan of Adjustment Friday, the biggest source of tension it has with the local government, but was unclear on how willing it was to accommodate the government’s demands. Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi and many of the legislators have called for zero

Municipals were a touch softer Friday as U.S. Treasuries rose and equities sold off as global concerns over China and COVID were heightened and participants prepared for the FOMC meeting and potential for tapering next week. Triple-A benchmark yields rose a basis point beginning in 2028 while UST were off another three to four on

The Louisiana State Bond Commission this week approved the sale of $50 million in revenue bonds to help the Calcasieu Parish School Board resume work on those schools damaged last year by two hurricanes. Construction has been halted because of delays in reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “A year after two devastating hurricanes,

Tropical Storm Ida’s damage in New York exposed vulnerabilities to the city itself and the mass transit system that serves it. While the federal and state governments have funding and other remedies in the works, local concerns range from frayed infrastructure to better communication in the face of a new quick-strike phenomenon, flash flooding. And

Puerto Rico’s local government revoked a law the Oversight Board has been considering using to issue restructured bonds without the local government’s support. Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi signed Project 959 on Thursday, revoking the 1942 law, which had been used over the years to justify bond refundings. The board has argued it could legally

Key municipal market provisions will advance after the House Ways and Means Committee approved the measures yesterday after a four-day markup of a portion of the Biden Administration’s $3.5 trillion Build Back Better proposal. The muni provisions, including the restoration of advance refundings, a direct-pay bond program, raising the threshold for muni bonds to be

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot tapped San Antonio, Texas, school superintendent Pedro Martinez — a former Chicago Public Schools fiscal chief — to lead the district as fiscal and governance change looms. Lightfoot introduced Martinez as the new chief executive officer at a news conference Wednesday. Martinez is the first Latino to hold the CEO position

State retirement systems ended fiscal 2021 in the strongest financial shape in more than a decade, and states with the worst-funded plans — Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Kentucky — led their peers on contribution increases. After struggling since the end of 2009, state retirement systems in fiscal 2021 enjoyed massive market returns coupled with

The municipal primary was the focus Tuesday with large deals repricing to lower yields while the secondary market took a backseat with benchmark curves little changed even as U.S. Treasuries rallied and stocks sold off. Triple-A benchmarks saw a basis point bump in spots while U.S. Treasury yields fell five basis points on the 10-

Broker-dealers told the Securities and Exchange Commission this week they support a proposal to reduce the volume of disclosures they would need to make to customers on an annual basis, though they also suggested some tweaks to the concept. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and Bond Dealers of America submitted comment letters to