Bonds

California Gov. Gavin Newsom started the week with a trio of proclamations: to aid schools impacted by wildfires, to aid the Orange County beach areas affected by a massive oil spill, and to support the state’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The order related to schools ensures continuity in education for displaced students and includes waivers

The Puerto Rico Oversight Board objected to a Puerto Rico bondholder request to further extend the retail bondholder Plan of Adjustment voting deadline. In response to requests by the Retirees Committee, Unsecured Creditors Committee, and bondholder Peter Hein, Puerto Rico bankruptcy Judge Laura Taylor Swain on Sept. 27 extended the voting deadline on the plan

Top bond underwriters are backing away from Texas after they were targeted by a law to protect the firearms industry. Three of the state’s top five underwriters in the first half of 2021 — JPMorgan, Citi, and Bank of America — accounted for $6.4 billion of deals, according to Refinitiv. Those firms and Wells Fargo

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board expects to spend $43.3 million during the fiscal year that began Friday, releasing a FY 2022 budget highlighting investments in technology and a focus on upholding the public trust. “Informed by extensive engagement with our stakeholders, we are making strategic investments focused on strengthening the capital market that facilitates economic

The Puerto Rico House of Representatives approved a bond restructuring bill Thursday night contingent on there being no cuts to government pensions. On Monday, the Puerto Rico Oversight Board said it was willing to raise the threshold for pensions to be cut to $2,000 or more per month from its previous threshold of $1,500 or

Michigan entered fiscal 2022 Friday with a new budget director and a $70 billion budget after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the final pieces that were negotiated with lawmakers amid a flood of federal relief and surging state tax revenues. On Thursday, Whitmer named Christopher Harkins, director of the Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency, to replace outgoing

The municipal secondary was quiet after a volatile week that moved municipal rates higher and ratios into a range that investors say are a more satisfactory level to engage in the asset class following months of stagnant rates. Triple-A benchmarks were little changed Friday while U.S. Treasuries ended the week at lower yields — sub

Federal authorities dropped the hammer Thursday on the former head of fixed income trading at the now defunct Atlanta-based IFS Securities Inc. for allegedly engaging in unauthorized and speculative trading activity that bankrupted the firm. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois and the Securities and Exchange Commission filed criminal and civil

Colleagues at the New York City Housing Development Corp. and elsewhere remembered Rich Froehlich as an affordable housing champion. “He connected people and ideas. There was never a problem too complicated for him to untangle and to guide us all through,” HDC President Eric Enderlin said after Froehlich, the agency’s chief operating officer and first

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. A scene from

Municipal yields rose as much as seven basis points in spots along the curve Tuesday as municipal investors rode the rapid rise in U.S. Treasuries and a volatile equity market as a time to move the asset class into a higher-yield environment. Triple-A benchmark yield curves cut levels by two to seven basis points. Selling

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

One bond underwriter undertook a unique two-pronged approach aimed at tackling the lack of affordable housing in the Southeast. KeyBanc Capital Markets priced the Clayton County Housing Authority, Georgia’s $41 million of tax-exempt bonds for the Villas at Mt. Zion and the Flats at Mt. Zion. Separately, KeyBank Real Estate Capital secured a $28.1 million

Plans to increase the commercial paper authorization for Los Angeles wastewater projects advanced this week. The city council’s budget and finance committee approved a request Monday to increase the city’s commercial paper program to $400 million from $250 million to support $2.2 billion in planned wastewater system projects. City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo submitted the

While Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials have been touting the need for congestion pricing revenue during multiple public hearings, observers have cited broader challenges for the state-run agency that has been in crisis mode throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Debt is high, federal aid won’t last forever and New York City area mass transit ridership is uncertain.

Municipals were slightly weaker outside of five years Wednesday, with triple-A benchmarks cutting levels by a basis point or two, after four days of a correction to higher yields not seen since February and March of this year. U.S. Treasuries pulled back from Tuesday’s losses earlier in the morning, but yields rose into the afternoon

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and his counterparts at the European Central Bank, Bank of Japan and Bank of England voiced cautious optimism Wednesday that supply-chain disruptions lifting inflation rates around the world would ultimately prove temporary. “The current inflation spike is really a consequence of supply constraints meeting very strong demand, and that is

As Congress debates the size of a major budget bill, mayors Wednesday urged lawmakers to preserve the billions set aside for affordable housing, which they said is key to cities’ fiscal health. The budget reconciliation package, one of several high-stake bills Congress is debating this week, currently totals $3.5 trillion but is widely expected to

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

As Congress debates a $1 trillion infrastructure program, Ballard Spahr announced William Estes, an experienced public sector attorney, has joined the P3/Infrastructure Group in its New York City office. Estes, who has over 20 years of experience as a lawyer, has overseen multibillion-dollar design-build and infrastructure developments for government agencies, Ballard Spahr Chair Mark Stewart

After more than four years of seeking the restructuring of the ruinous public debts of Puerto Rico, the special body representing the government is looking forward to finishing its work and dissolving. However, the most important part of the job is left undone. Someone must put in place an impregnable bulwark against the fiscal mismanagement

Boston’s mayoral race has captured national headlines, with the city in line to have its first elected female and minority mayor. It reflects demographic change in a city noted over the years for clinging to its traditions. “Every significant candidate was identified as a person of color, and the four top finishers were women,” said

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

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,

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.

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

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

The House will vote next week on raising the nation’s $28 trillion debt ceiling, but a political standoff between Democrats and Republicans still threatens to send the U.S. into a payments default next month. The Treasury Department has warned that without congressional action, the government could default sometime during October. But Senate Minority Leader Mitch

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