Louisiana

Federal aid will alleviate financial challenges for southern Louisiana parishes affected by this month’s flooding, but the disaster remains a credit negative for the state and local governments, Moody's Investors Service said/

Southeast issuers sold $37.63 billion of municipal bonds in the first half of 2016, a decline of 10.9% from the same period last year, even as new money deals increased.

Cash-strapped Louisiana faces huge expenses as a result of the three days of torrential rains that flooded the southern part of the state, state budget chief Jay Dardenne told a legislative panel Thursday.

The Louisiana State Bond Commission and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee meet separately Thursday to consider issuing $500 million of notes for cash flow and working capital in the general fund.

Municipal bonds issued for Tennessee-based Global Ministries Foundation housing projects were placed on S&P Global Ratings' CreditWatch and could face rating downgrades because of uncertainty related to a federal investigation.

Louisiana faces another thorny funding issue: how to address billions of dollars in backlogged transportation needs.

Louisiana lawmakers capped their third session of the year on Thursday adopting a fiscal 2017 budget with $300 million in cuts while failing to address a projected $200 million current-year deficit.

With dozens of oil and gas company bankruptcies, energy producing states face a growing backlog of abandoned wells as revenue to fix the problems dwindles.

As Louisiana lawmakers remain at odds with the governor over program funding as the state faces an even higher deficit estimate.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards opened the state's third legislative session Tuesday urging lawmakers to resume work on a budget for 2017 that 'no one likes' in order to prevent severe cuts to critical state services.