Washington

California and Washington sold four large refunding GO deals in the competitive market while several deals of size priced in the negotiated market led by a $650 million for Arizona's Salt River Project. A constructive secondary led yields to fall three to five basis points.

October's total volume rose 29.3% to $37.156 billion in 661 issues from $28.738 billion in 614 issues a year earlier. New-money grew more than 30% while refundings were up by nearly 75%.

The top five bond financings have an average dollar volume of more than $1.2 billion.

Municipal bond issuance in the Far West was down 2.3% in a first half that saw volume drop 17.1% nationally.

July's total volume was $25.939 billion in 542 issues, down from $28.258 billion in 619 issues a year earlier, the smallest percentage drop in monthly issuance year-over-year in 2023, according to Refinitiv data.

The offered side "has continued to pack the primary market with value to manage their (and the market's) potential downside if disruption did occur; this also helps the context for muni buyers headed into the Fed," said Matt Fabian, partner at Municipal Market Analytics.

Most top 10 issuers for 1H are from New York and California, with three from New York and three from California.

The $6.9 billion new-issue calendar features high-grade deals from Georgia, Washington and Massachusetts, among other frequently traded credits, which should provide direction for scales.

The Biden Administration has partnered with five cities and the State of California in efforts to reduce homelessness.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation Tuesday improving a tax increment financing program created in 2021 that wasn't working as intended.

Seattle's Sound Transit, the biggest beneficiary of a federal low-interest loan program, had received three more loans totaling $327 million.

Investors will be greeted Monday with a new-issue calendar estimated at $7.208 billion, led by $1.3 billion of GOs from bellwether Washington.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded Providence St. Joseph Health a notch to A2, following similar moves by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.

Gov. Jay Inslee's plan to put a $4 billion housing bond before voters was discarded by budget writers in the state Senate.

A substantial drop in new money volume sets California and the Far West apart from the the country.

Gov. Jay Inslee wants a $4 billion bond referendum for housing that would be outside the state's debt limit. State lawmakers must approve first.

Washington's new measure to clean up Puget Sound would require billions in borrowing over the next decade, including up to $14 billion in King County alone.

The spiderweb of funding sources for natural disaster recovery makes it hard to track the actual costs to state and local government of fighting wildfires.

Partisan politics is playing a larger role in public finance, flaring up into bickering more often than in the past.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and British Columbia Premier John Horgan signed a statement of cooperation.