Jim Watts

The Louisiana economy will suffer from the federal ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico for another two years, Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret said Monday in an address to the Press Club of Baton Rouge.

DALLAS — Kansas tax collections totaled $489 million in December, leaving all revenues $22 million shy of official expectations for the first six months of fiscal 2011.

DALLAS — Oklahoma lawmakers and the new governor will face a tight revenue picture again this year when the 53rd Legislature convenes Feb. 7.

Moody's Investors Service has raised its rating on the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp.'s $894 million of outstanding tax-exempt assessment revenue bonds to Baa1 from Baa2. The outlook moved to positive from stable.

Louisiana's revenues for the first five months of fiscal 2011 total $2.87 billion, down $395 million from the same period of fiscal 2010.

DALLAS — Travis County, Tex., commissioners are expected to ask voters in November for up to $300 million of general obligation bonds to finance a new courthouse in downtown Austin.

Oklahoma tax revenue collections were up more than 9% in November over last year, Treasurer Scott Meacham said last week, as the state's economy continues to rebound from the deepest recession since World War II.

The State Board of Equalization last week certified a state general fund revenue estimate of $5.2 billion in fiscal 2012, which would give lawmakers $4.9 billion to appropriate next year.

The Kansas Board of Regents will seek a $50 million increase in state aid to higher education in fiscal 2012 to restore some of the money lost to budget cuts over the past two years.

Two churches in Mission have filed suit in Johnson County District Court in Olathe seeking to overturn Mission's new transportation utility fee.

Little Rock Wastewater will be insolvent by mid-2012 unless the Sanitary Sewer Commission raises rates or cuts spending, according to a new financial plan presented to the commission last week.

Voters in Oklahoma County Independent School District No. 12 last week approved three bond proposals totaling $29.9 million.

A $191 million general obligation bond package proposed by Oklahoma County Independent School District No. 52 failed last week despite a majority of voters endorsing the bond package.

New Mexico Gov.-elect Susana Martinez has asked state agencies, boards, and commissions to give her proposals that would cut spending in the state's fiscal 2012 budget by 10% of 2011 expenditures.

A group of parents in Johnson County Unified School District 512 has filed a federal suit asking that the local district be allowed to raise the property tax levy.

The Pulaski County Special School District could build as many as five new schools and renovate two others with proceeds from a proposed $181 million bond program outlined last week by superintendent Charles Hopson.

DALLAS — The Texas attorney general’s office filed papers in a Dallas County state district court Wednesday rejecting the effort by Irving to divert state taxes to support city bonds for a $250 million entertainment complex in the Dallas suburb.

The Louisiana State Bond Commission approved a plan Tuesday that allows the state to continue for another year its investment in auction-rate tax-exempt bonds issued in 2006 by the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District.

The board overseeing the financing and construction of the new $1.2 billion public hospital in New Orleans to replace state-owned Charity Hospital has selected Kaufman, Hall & Associates as financial adviser for a proposed $400 million revenue bond issue.

Trustees of the Austin Community College District were expected on Tuesday night to approve a truncated sale of $33.5 million of Build America Bonds to build a campus that will serve a new area that joined the district in November.