Lynn Hume

Banks often demand key terms of private placement documents be redacted when issuers want to disclose them and questions of materiality arise.

The Senate’s vote to approve its tax bill means advance refundings are all but dead. The future of private-activity bonds hangs in the balance as the differences with the House’s version are resolved.

Muni issuers rushing to get advance refundings done in December before Congress passes a tax bill that terminates them may face a halt in sales of state and local government securities because of the debt limit.

A tribal government specialist has replaced Allyson Belsome as head of the group responsible for muni bond audits.

With roughly two weeks to negotiate a final tax bill, using the amendments would avoid a formal conference and could save private activity bonds.

Halting tax-exempt advance refundings at the end of the year, as proposed by both pending tax bills, would increase issuers’ costs, deprive them of savings for new projects, and push some to enter into swaps that could increase their risk.

Even though tax bills would have a PAYGO problem, Republicans may have the upper hand.

It may take 60 votes in the Senate to decide if the tax bill is subject to the PAYGO Act.

If Congress passes the pending tax bills, BABs and more than $85B of mandatory federal programs would be jeopardized.

The SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations found municipal advisors had trouble meeting registration, books and records and supervisory requirements.

Senate Finance Commitee chairman Orrin Hatch's tax proposal will likely be kinder to municipal bonds than the House's bill, but harder on states and localities.

Some House Republicans pledged to work with Democrats to save PABs, advance refundings in tax reform legislation.

The House GOP bill, if passed, would lower feasibility of P3s, Fitch said.

Advance refundings were 27% of market last year, PABs were 19% and most were 501(c)(3)s.

Already facing the potential loss of several key financing tools and a 20% corporate tax rate that would cheapen the relative value of tax-exempt munis, there could be even more pain in store for the municipal market when the Senate weighs in.

The bill, which calls for the elimination of advance refundings, private activity bonds, tax credit bonds, and tax-exempt stadium bonds, would shrink the municipal market despite preserving the tax-exemption on muni bond interest.

A SIFMA official testified about muni regulatory concerns of dealers.

VRDO rate resets and filings of continuing disclosure documents were also down quarter-over-quarter.

San Diego, having established the gold standard for disclosure on its website, finds the market now uses EMMA as the primary source of information.

Panelists at SIFMA's annual meeting see the federal government making changes to grant programs and PABs for infrastructure.