Texas

In the first competitive pricing of charter school bonds in Texas, Kipp Academy in Houston earned savings of nearly 13.5% on a $77 million issue backed by the Texas Permanent School Fund.

The Texas House has approved House Bill 9 by Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Canton, increasing state employees' contributions to the state retirement pension fund by 2%.

A House and Senate conference committee will reconcile differences in their budgets after the Senate approved a $211 billion spending plan that exceeds the House’s version by about $1.6 billion.

As Texas lawmakers seek to reverse the state's growing debt, the Texas Public Finance Authority expects to lower the state's interest cost through a $218 million refunding of general obligation and revenue bonds.

The Texas Department of Transportation would no longer be allowed to issue bonds backed by the Texas Mobility Fund under legislation approved by the state House.

The Standard & Poor’s outlook on Lubbock Christian University’s BBB rating has shifted to negative amid falling enrollment and dependence on tuition.

The Texas House of Representatives has passed Rep. John Zerwas's House Bill 100 that allocates $3.1 billion of tuition revenue bonds for colleges and universities across the state. No TRBs have won legislative approval in nearly a decade.

Texas sales tax revenues grew for the 60th straight month in March, but the 1.5% increase was the weakest in the past two years.

With some maturities oversubscribed by a factor of five, the North Texas Tollway Authority recorded net present value savings of nearly $90 million or 10% on an $866.5 million refunding, according to chief financial officer Horatio Porter.

Texas voters would get the final say on a Rep. John Otto's resolution passed overwhelmingly in the state House of Representatives to reduce the state's $44 billion of debt using excess revenue from the rainy day fund.

Cheniere Energy's $12 billion liquefied natural gas export plant in Corpus Christi, Texas, appears the likeliest to obtain financing as others are cancelled, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Citing worsening financial performance amid continuing drought, Moody's Investors Service lowered Wichita Falls, Texas's water and sewer debt two notches to A3 and retained a negative outlook.

Moody's Investors Service placed Beaumont Independent School District's underlying Baa1 rating on review for a possible downgrade, affecting $158.5 million of outstanding debt.

With traditional transportation funds running short, the North Texas Tollway Authority has become the de facto highway builder in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The flagship Dallas North Tollway is the spine of a system that extends into five counties. With about $6.3 billion of first-tier debt, NTTA carries ratings of A-minus from Standard & Poor's and A2 from Moody's Investors Service. About $1 billion of second-tier debt is rated a notch lower. Maintaining those ratings while managing explosive growth remains a constant challenge for the system.

The North Texas Tollway Authority expects to reduce its maximum annual debt service by $80 million with an $871 million refunding, chief financial officer Horatio Porter said.

The North Texas Tollway Authority is undergoing an Internal Revenue Service Examination of its 2009 variable-rate bonds as it prepares to refund $871 million of second-tier bonds, according to an addendum to the preliminary official statement.

A day after the dedication of its new $1 billion hospital, Standard & Poor's downgraded Dallas' Parkland Health and Hospital System one notch to AA.

Texas A&M University will take advantage of its top credit rating in a competitive sale of $289 million of Permanent University Fund bonds.

The Texas Senate has approved a $4.6 billion reduction in school property taxes under a bill by Sen. Jane Nelson. The Texas House is considering an even larger $4.8 billion tax break.

Standard & Poor’s downgraded the Willacy County Local Government Corp. to a junk-bond rating of CCC-plus from an investment grade BBB after a $78 million bond-funded detention center lost its operator in the wake of an inmate revolt.