Gov. Rick Perry has replaced chairman Paul Hudson with fellow Public Utility Commission member Barry Smitherman, while keeping Hudson on the three-member panel that regulates utilities in the state. Perry appointed Smitherman to the panel in April 2004. Smitherman has nearly two decades in public banking and legal positions, andalso served as assistant district attorney in Harris County. The Bond Buyer reported in 2002 that Bank One fired Smitherman for failing to get approval before submitting an opinion piece to the Houston Chronicle. Smitherman and PUC board member Julie Parsley voted down a proposal by Hudson in 2006 designed to save millions of Texans about $17 per month on their electric bills. The plan’s legality was questionable and conveyed the wrong message to electric markets, Smitherman and Parsley said at the time.
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The New York City Transitional Finance Authority leads the new-issue calendar with a total of $1.8 billion of future tax-secured subordinate bonds in the negotiated and competitive markets.
6h ago -
The nation's 3,300 airports face $151 billion in infrastructure needs over the next five years, according to the 2023 U.S. Airport Infrastructure Needs Report.
8h ago -
The budgetary process has been marked by political fights between the governor and the general assembly.
8h ago -
Chicago's top suburban customer and Illinois' largest water wholesaler bought land for a treatment plant in Northbrook, saying it will strike out on its own.
10h ago -
The approval clears the way for groundbreaking on a bridge that the two states have been trying to replace for 12 years.
11h ago -
More funding went to oil and gas subsidies than into green energy projects in recent years, according to panelists at Milken Institute's Global Conference.
May 10