Louisiana

Louisiana Tobacco Settlement Financing Corp. approved a controversial refinancing of $720 million of tobacco settlement revenue bonds.

Louisiana lawmakers avoided a special session with a near-unanimous approval of a $25.4 billion budget for fiscal 2014.

The Louisiana Senate voted Monday to put a $113 million surplus from fiscal 2012 into the Medicaid program rather into the rainy day fund.

The Louisiana House unanimously rejected Senate amendments to its $25 billion state budget bill for fiscal 2014, creating a standoff that may require a special session to settle.

Twenty-nine technical training projects at two-year colleges in Louisiana will be funded with $251.6 million of state bonds that won final legislative approval Friday.

New Orleans may finance a riverfront tourist development with $92 million of revenue bonds.

Miami Beach is participating in the two-year RE.invest Initiative funded by the Rockefeller Foundation to help the city rethink the way it designs, plans, implements, and finances infrastructure.

The Rockefeller Foundation selected eight cities to participate in the RE.Invest Initiative, a national effort to support sustainable infrastructure that includes financial advice on P3 options.

Louisiana will structure an $806 million refunding of tobacco settlement revenue bonds to provide savings of $143 million over three years.

The Navy ceded 118 acres of a former base in New Orleans to the renovation effort financed with $150 million of state bonds.

Louisiana tax collections will be $129 million more than had been expected this year with another $155 million in fiscal 2014.

St. Tammany Parish schools in Louisiana will see renovations and upgrades funded with proceeds from $135 million of bonds approved by voters last week.

Louisiana will refund $303 million of gasoline and fuels tax revenue bonds this week to avoid $110 million of swap fees on the variable-rate debt.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal urged lawmakers to reject a plan to balance the 2014 budget with spending cuts and curtailed tax credits.

The Louisiana Senate has sent a bill to the House authorizing $252 million of off-the-book lease revenue bonds for the community college system.

Louisiana will avoid $110 million in swap termination penalties with a $303.1 million refunding on May 16 approved by the State Bond Commission.

Citi will serve as senior underwriter on Louisiana's $823 million restructuring of tobacco settlement revenue bonds, with up to $100 million of upfront savings.

Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy is critical of a plan to use savings from an $823 million refunding of tobacco settlement bonds to bolster the fiscal 2014 state budget.

Louisiana will extend its dwindling capital outlay escrow account for another few months with Tuesday's competitive sale of $300 million of state general obligation bonds.

Lawmakers rejected a $500 million cut in the fiscal 2014 budget measure intended to smooth the plan's passage in the full House.