Louisiana

DALLAS — Tolls on twin state bridges across the Mississippi River in New Orleans should be allowed to expire next year with the final payment on the bonds that financed the spans, an advocacy group argues.

DALLAS — Gov. Bobby Jindal reiterated his stance against new taxes to balance Louisiana’s fiscal 2012 budget Monday at the opening of the regular legislative session.

DALLAS — Louisiana’s State Bond Commission declined Tuesday to approve a tax-exempt option for $75 million of bonds for a grocery distribution facility in St. Tammany Parish.

DALLAS — Sen. David Vitter, R-La., met last week with federal officials to oppose Louisiana’s request for credit enhancement on $400 million of revenue bonds for a new $1.2 billion teaching hospital in New Orleans.

The Internal Revenue Service has closed an audit of about $300 million of Series A special tax bonds issued by the Ernest N. Morial-New Orleans Exhibition Hall Authority in 2003 to help finance a convention center expansion.

DALLAS — The Louisiana State Bond Commission approved a staff report Thursday that set the par amount of net state tax-supported debt at $5.9 billion as of Dec. 31, 2010.

All of Louisiana’s 64 parishes will share in the first $5 million from BP’s $30 million contribution to help rebuild a tourism economy that was devastated last year by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

DALLAS — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal presented the Legislature on Friday with a proposed $24.93 billion operating budget for fiscal 2012 that allocates $1.12 billion less than in the current fiscal year.

Standard & Poor’s has revised its outlook to positive from stable on sewer revenue bonds issued by the New ­Orleans Sewerage & Water Board.

Louisiana is seeking damages of $1 million a day each from BP and other companies associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year.

DALLAS — Louisiana’s Revenue Estimating Conference on Tuesday adopted an official revenue estimate for fiscal 2012 that shows only slight relief for next year’s $1.6 billion budget shortfall.

DALLAS — Louisiana’s financial adviser said the timing of Tuesday’s competitive sale of $300 million of general obligation bonds put the issue into a market starved for high-quality public debt offerings.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said he would support legislation this year that would allow him to cut state agency budgets by up to 10% — instead of the 5% he's currently allowed — if revenue falls below expectations.

Louisiana will enter the new-money market Tuesday for the first time since 2009 with a competitive sale of $300 million of general obligation bonds.

DALLAS — Louisiana will use floating-rate bonds with a three-year hard-put maturity to refinance $200 million of variable-rate general obligation bonds issued in 2008 for debt-service relief to hurricane-battered local issuers.

BRADENTON, Fla. — A one-year extension to sell Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds by Congress will allow Louisiana to review applications for its $300.83 million of remaining capacity, the State Bond Commission learned Thursday.

Moody's Investors Service has raised its rating on the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp.'s $894 million of outstanding tax-exempt assessment revenue bonds to Baa1 from Baa2. The outlook moved to positive from stable.

Louisiana's revenues for the first five months of fiscal 2011 total $2.87 billion, down $395 million from the same period of fiscal 2010.

The Louisiana State Bond Commission approved a plan Tuesday that allows the state to continue for another year its investment in auction-rate tax-exempt bonds issued in 2006 by the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District.

The board overseeing the financing and construction of the new $1.2 billion public hospital in New Orleans to replace state-owned Charity Hospital has selected Kaufman, Hall & Associates as financial adviser for a proposed $400 million revenue bond issue.