Washington DC

A memo circulated Wednesday by House Financial Service Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., suggests that the next wave of federal legislation authorize the Fed to support state, territory, and local debt issuance in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

BDA told Fed Chair Jerome Powell that two existing programs could help the muni market overcome the impact of the virus.

Airports have nearly $100 billion in infrastructure debt that requires about $7 billion in airport bond principal and interest payments this year.

Tax-exempt municipal yields rose substantially last week causing the MSRB to take a look at trade data, said John Bagley, MSRB chief market structure officer.

Authority Chairman Patrick Foye cited plummeting revenue as riders stay home because of COVID-19

The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act last week achieved a milestone by garnering bipartisan cosponsorship by more than half of the 435 members of the House.

As COVID-19 impacts the U.S. economy, muni market participants want to bring back tax-exempt advance refunding, raise the cap on bank-qualified debt, among others.

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act continues to influence the composition of the municipal bond market.

“Anybody who’s having an event between now and May is considering what to do about it,” said Mike Nicholas, CEO of the Bond Dealers of America.

Congressional offices may decide to minimize or ban face-to-face meetings as virus concerns grow.

Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden are proposing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars that would require the support of lawmakers in both chambers of Congress.

Richard Li, a pubic debt specialist for the city of Milwaukee, compared disclosing COVID-19 to disclosing a hurricane hitting localities on the Atlantic coast.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers wants Treasury to fill the position formerly held by John Cross III.

The current IRS fee charged to most governmental entities for private letter rulings is $30,000.

Sources say action on the SEC's proposed exemptive order has slowed, though it could garner attention at next week's conference.

Neither the House nor the Senate has publicly said how infrastructure legislation will be paid for.

Health care facilities have a high risk of cyberattacks compared to medium low risk for local governments and school districts, according to Moody’s

Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, is looking to attach tax-exempt advance refunding to an appropriations bill or other suitable legislation.

SCE&G, and former SCANA executives, violated securities laws while overseeing the defunct V.C. Summer project, the SEC said.

The IRS has informally responded to a letter from NABL asking for a reduction in the high fee it charged for private letter rulings.