Bonds

A development agreement for a professional sports arena in Oklahoma City, costing at least $900 million, won approval Tuesday in a 7-2 city council vote.  The deal with the owners of the National Basketball Association’s Oklahoma City Thunder allocates the lion’s share of the project’s funding to the city, with the team contributing $50 million. 

A California Senate committee received few details from the department charged with building a public broadband program on its plans to expand into underserved neighborhoods. The program faced criticism last year for prioritizing upscale cities, like Beverly Hills, over impoverished and middle-class areas, such as Los Angeles’ South Central region and Oakland, communities lacking in

Texas lawmakers held a marathon hearing last week to grill public university leaders on their compliance with a 2023 state law banning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices at their schools or face financial consequences.  Ahead of the hearing, Republican State Sen. Brandon Creighton, who chairs the chamber’s Subcommittee on Higher Education, warned higher education

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is seeking to halt the trend of property insurers exiting the state, citing losses, by expediting how quickly they can increase rates. Newsom announced plans to draft a trailer bill to speed up work done by the state’s Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara during Friday’s briefing on May revisions to his proposed

States are casting around for solutions to a drop in gas tax revenues which includes hiked registration fees and the expansion of toll roads, which remains politically sensitive.  “Various projections from state DOTs, think tanks, and economists show that gas tax revenue, which is the largest source of revenue for state transportation trust funds, is

Wood-pellet manufacturer Enviva Inc.’s bankruptcy has pushed $353 million of municipal bonds along with a wider $2.6 billion pot of debt into a Chapter 11 corporate reorganization. The municipal bonds are the $252 million in outstanding Series 2022 Industrial Development Authority of Sumter County Exempt Facilities revenue bonds in Alabama and $101 million in outstanding

Texas Capital is starting a public finance business in Texas, hiring a former UBS Financial Services investment banker, the company announced Wednesday. The move by the Dallas-based financial services firm comes as the ranks of underwriters in Texas have thinned under state laws that prohibit contracts with companies that “boycott” or “discriminate” against the fossil

How much the federal government can contribute to rebuilding the originally bond-financed Francis Scott Key Bridge is now a concern for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.  “Hours after the collapse, President Biden announced his intention for the federal government to pay for the entire cost of reconstructing the Key Bridge,” said Committee Chair

The Colorado Legislature ended its session last week after passing a fiscal 2025 budget, school funding changes, a property tax cut, and measures aimed at pushing multi-billion-dollar passenger rail projects and a bond-financed purchase of an historic hotel forward.  State officials celebrated a legislative session Senate President Steve Fenberg called “nothing short of transformational” at

The Turnpike Authority of Kentucky approved the sale of $128 million of revenue bonds, with the proceeds to be used to refund the authority’s Series 2010B Build America Bonds. TAK Treasurer Steve Starkweather said he expects the authority to price the bonds June 6 with an all-in true interest cost of 3.216%. They are to

Amid a major federal government push to get rid of lead in water service lines, many municipalities are struggling to keep up.  One city has been ahead of the curve: Pittsburgh, which recently celebrated removing 11,000 lead pipes. The Pennsylvania city has around 6,000 pipes to go, and estimates that it will finish around 2026. 

California budget watchers, who were bracing for another series of cuts to close the state’s now $44.9 billion deficit, saw those fears realized when the governor released his May budget revisions. The state needs to solve deficits projected for the next two years, not just this year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday during his

Current strategies to deploy public and private capital toward a green energy transition are experiencing mixed success, amid conflicting trends as both global oil demand and clean energy deployment rates rise together, according to panelists at the Milken Institute’s Global conference this week in Beverly Hills. “As many folks know, we aren’t doing that well

The Virginia General Assembly is set to pass a new budget next week after a saga that saw the state’s Republican governor and the Democratically controlled legislature clash over environmental issues, school funding, and pay-fors.     Although the budget deal still needs to be officially approved during the special session that begins Monday, Gov. Glenn

Florida would expand its already broad public-private partnership powers under a pair of bills, one that GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis has already signed and another that would allow for revenue-risk projects of up to 75 years. All of Florida’s P3s are currently based on the availability-payment model. The General Assembly has passed the revenue-risk bill,

While federal efforts to forgive student loans generate headlines and lawsuits, some states and municipalities are tying bond-financed mortgage programs to student loan forgiveness to boost home ownership.   “The Maryland SmartBuy program is designed to help first-time home buyers who have student loan obligations qualify for acquisition financing under the Maryland Mortgage Program,” said Sergei

A House Budget Committee hearing on Wednesday drew out two sides of thinking during a debate on the economic effects of immigration as the Republican majority hammered away on the costs. “The Federation for American Immigration Reform has done a great job,” said Committee Chairman, Jodey Arrington R- Texas. ”Studies suggest this cost is upwards of $400

The California Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a case brought by the state’s Democratic leaders that would block a sweeping anti-tax measure from November’s ballot. The initiative, called the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act (TPA), would amend the California constitutional rules governing how the state and local governments can impose taxes, fees and

Broker-dealer firms are stepping up in the primary market to fill the gap left by Citi’s dramatic exit from the municipal bond business last December, but a test of how secondary market liquidity stands up to the firm’s departure remains to be seen. That’s according to broker-dealer and financial advisor panelists speaking Monday at the

Illinois will issue $1.8 billion of general obligation bonds — $250 million taxable Series 2024A and $1.55 billion tax-exempt Series 2024B — to fund accelerated pension benefit payments and capital expenditures through the Rebuild Illinois program.  The fixed-rate bonds are expected to price this week. Jefferies, Siebert Williams Shank and Barclays are joint senior managers