Louisiana

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.

DALLAS — Gov. Bobby Jindal outlined plans to legislative leaders Thursday that would generate revenue quickly as Louisiana faces a $1.6 billion hole in the fiscal 2012 general fund budget.

A random sample of 24 of 277 New Orleans hotels subject to the city's hotel tax found a total of $145,000 in unpaid taxes, including penalties and interest, over a three-month period in 2010.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said last week that he will not use new taxes or fees to balance the fiscal 2012 budget despite a projected revenue shortfall of $1.6 billion.

The Louisiana State Bond Commission continued its efforts Monday to allocate the state's remaining capacity of Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds by awarding $91 million of the tax-exempt bonds at a special session.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Seven months after the largest oil spill in U.S. history, the credit ratings of state and local government bond issuers in the Gulf Coast region have remained stable, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

DALLAS — Louisiana has delayed a scheduled sale of $96.1 million of refunding bonds due to the recent rise in interest rates.

DALLAS — New Orleans had hoped to get up to $1 billion from leasing Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport to a private operator. But the recent decision by the city to terminate the privatization effort leaves it reconsidering an earlier proposal that included a possible transfer of the facility to Louisiana.

DALLAS — A transportation coalition is seeking legislative sponsors for Louisiana state constitutional amendments that would raise the gasoline tax and establish a $3 billion bond program for highway efforts.

DALLAS — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will eliminate a $106.8 million deficit in the $25.5 billion budget for fiscal 2011 mostly by cutting expenditures for higher education and health care.

DALLAS — The Louisiana State Bond Commission allocated the state’s remaining $232.7 million of Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds Thursday to three applicants that had sought the right to issue $700 million of the tax-exempt private-activity debt.

DALLAS — New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu rolled out a $483 million operating budget for 2011 on Thursday that he said would pay for essential city services while setting strict spending limits.