Texas

DALLAS — After sitting out 2011, the University of Texas System Board of Regents will offer $200 million of top-rated revenue financing system refunding bonds to a receptive market this week, followed shortly by another $235 million deal.

The trustees of the South San Antonio Independent School District voted last week to allow advertisements on its fleet of 30 school buses.

The San Antonio City Council will meet Feb. 16 to approve a final and detailed list of 140 bond-financed projects and set an election for May 12 on $596 million of general obligation bonds.

Facing a federal investigation of past practices, the North Texas Tollway Authority has adopted a new ethics policy that requires extensive disclosure and tighter strictures on conflicts of interest.

DALLAS — In an unusual combination of financings, the Tarrant Regional Water District in Fort Worth will issue $295 million of bonds in two deals for a $2.3 billion water pipeline from East Texas.

A bond committee has asked the trustees of the Tatum Independent School District to set a May election on a $29.9 million general obligation bond program.

Legalizing the estimated 132,000 illegal immigrants working in the Houston area would result in an additional $1.4 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues, a Houston business advocacy group said last week at an immigration seminar at Rice University.

Valero Energy Corp. said last week it would not appeal Texas’ rejection of its request for a property-tax exemption on refinery equipment.

Texas sales tax revenues totaled $1.98 billion in December, an increase of 9.5% from December 2010 and the 21st consecutive month of collection increases.

Dallas voters can expect a November election for a general obligation bond package of up to $550 million that was outlined Wednesday to the City Council.

Amid the biggest building binge in its history, the North Texas Tollway Authority ranked as the top debt issuer in the Southwest in 2011, with more than $2.1 billion sold, according to Thomson Reuters.

The Plano Independent School District faces a new year of litigation over Texas' school funding law after surviving a year of unprecedented austerity.

The Texas State Securities Board has named John Morgan as the new state securities commissioner.

The North Texas Tollway Authority board has agreed to pay legal fees for board member David Denison, who is involved in an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

A federal indictment of former El Paso County, Texas, Judge Anthony Cobos implicates financial advisor Coastal Securities in a fraud scheme surrounding a $40 million bond refunding in 2007.

The Texas Tech University System will get the Southwest bond market rolling with $198 million of revenue bonds after a lean year for higher education.

A coalition of 63 Texas school districts, including some of the largest in the state, filed a lawsuit Dec. 22 contending the current system for financing public education is unconstitutional.

A Texas oversight agency has turned down an oil refinery's request for a tax break that could have cost local governments and school districts millions of dollars in refunds and lost property tax revenue.

Austin's 15-member bond advisory committee will meet in early January to begin trimming an initial $1.3 billion project list for a general obligation bond package expected to go to city voters next November.

A forecast released last week by Texas Comptroller Susan Combs predicts that an expanding economy will generate an unexpected $1.6 billion for state coffers over the next two years.