Lynn Hume

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.