Far West

SAN FRANCISCO — Moody’s Investors Service on Monday downgraded Hawaii to Aa2 from Aa1, affecting $5.1 billion of outstanding debt.

The Toledo-Lucas Port Authority entered into a closing agreement with the Internal Revenue Service to preserve the tax-exempt status for $3.5 million of 2005 bonds after the IRS found they were taxable.

The United States “effectively shrugs off infrastructure” amid escalating government deficits and cash-strapped taxpayers, according to an annual report released by the Urban Land Institute and Ernst & Young on Monday.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined Kane, McKenna Capital Inc. and Wulff, Hansen & Co. a total of $27,500 for municipal transaction disclosure and trade rule violations.

SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Jerry Brown released a revised budget Monday that dramatically reduces planned bond issuance as part of an effort to narrow overall state borrowing.

Medicare’s trust fund will run out of money in 2024 and Social Security’s will be exhausted in 2036, according to the annual reports of their boards of trustees released Friday.

Federal legislation introduced last week would prohibit states and localities from collecting taxes on certain electronic transactions, but governmental officials are worried about the revenue losses and the precedent the law would set.

Legislation has been introduced in both the House and Senate that would exempt water and sewer bonds from states’ private-activity volume caps.

CHICAGO — The new federal health care law’s emphasis on high-quality, low-cost medical care could have widespread credit implications for the sector, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report last week.

The District of Columbia sold $40 million of special obligation bonds last week on behalf of Gallaudet University, a first-ever borrowing for the school.