Oklahoma

Challenges to laws banning investment banks from underwriting municipal bonds and the targeting of other financial firms for divestment purposes may result from a recent Oklahoma ruling.

The state attorney general's office said it will appeal the ruling prohibiting enforcement of 2022's Energy Discrimination Elimination Act.

The city had set an Aug. 27 election on a proposition to create tax increment financing districts to help finance an arena project.

Laws enacted in Arkansas and Kansas will reduce income tax revenue by hundreds of millions of dollars in fiscal 2025.

Controversy over where to build a new jail has delayed further issuance of $260 million of voter-approved bonds after an initial $45 million sale.

A professional basketball arena costing at least $900 million moved forward in Oklahoma City with the city council's approval of a development agreement.

A state judge issued a temporary injunction against enforcement of the Energy Discrimination Elimination Act, which has led to the ban of seven financial firms, including four big municipal bond underwriters, from government contracts.

The latest revision of Oklahoma's fossil fuel "boycotter" list added Barclays, which joins three other municipal bond underwriters placed there last year.

The 2022 law, which has so far banned three major investment banks from underwriting municipal bonds in Oklahoma, could be amended to limit its reach to state agencies.

Laws banning banks from underwriting municipal bond deals because of their fossil fuel or firearm policies dramatically boosted underwriting spreads, a business group's study said.