Jim Watts

The Texas Charter School Association filed a lawsuit June 26 contending that the state formula for funding public education violates the Texas Constitution.

El Paso City Council voted Tuesday to raze City Hall and build a 9,000-seat minor league ballpark on the downtown site.

Texas State Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, said last week he is concerned the quasi-governmental Texas Windstorm Insurance Association might not have the money needed to pay damages if a large hurricane hits the Gulf of Mexico coast this year.

Shawnee County Unified School District No. 450, Kan., may ask voters in November for a $13 million general obligation bond package.

Pulaski County School District No. 1 will ask Arkansas officials to approve a $266 million facilities improvement plan financed primarily with $200 million of school construction bonds.

A campaign to make permanent Arizona's 1% sales tax may be derailed by a discrepancy between the official version of the ballot language and the petitions being circulated to put the initiative on the November ballot.

The El Mirage, Ariz., City Council has adopted a $43.5 million capital improvement plan for fiscal 2013 that includes the proceeds of $8.5 million of general obligation bonds approved by voters in November 2011.

El Paso, Texas is considering a plan to build a $50 million minor league baseball stadium where City Hall now sits.

Houston ISD Superintendent Terry Grier said Thursday that the 42 schools to be replaced or renovated in the $1.89 billion GO bond referendum will "change an entire city." Trustees must vote by early August to put the bond proposal on the Nov. 6 ballot.

State Bond Commission wants $325 million of road revenue bonds to hit the market quickly while interest rates are low.

Houston ISD would focus most of the proceeds from a proposed $1.8 billion general obligation bond package on replacements and upgrades to high school campuses. District is wrapping up an $805 million bond program authorized by voters in 2007.

New Orleans will seek approval of plan to refund up to $170 million of general obligation bonds at Thursday's meeting of the Louisiana State Bond Commission.

DALLAS — The Oklahoma Legislature’s failure to pass proposed income tax cuts in the recently completed session will give lawmakers an additional $16 million to appropriate when they convene in 2013.

Gilbert, Ariz., will not be able to issue any general obligation bonds or other authorized debt this year after the City Council voted last week to keep the secondary property-tax rate unchanged in fiscal 2013 for the 11th year in a row.

The Tempe, Ariz., City Council will decide later this month on whether to send a $29.8 million general obligation bond program to voters in November. The council gave its preliminary go-ahead to the plan last week.

A proposed increase in the Arkansas severance tax on natural gas will not reduce energy activity in the state, proponents said last week.

The Little Rock, Ark., Board of Directors last week approved a series of four rate increases for the Little Rock Wastewater Utility through 2016 to finance construction of facilities needed to comply with a 2001 lawsuit settlement.

The USS Texas is slowly sinking at its berth near Houston, and $25 million of debt approved by voters in 2008 won’t make any difference.

The Texas Facilities Commission is considering five valid unsolicited proposals for a potential $500 million public-private partnership for projects at the capitol complex in Austin.

The California Department of Transportation and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority closed Thursday on financing for the $1.1 billion Presidio Parkway Public-Private Partnership.