Wisconsin

CHICAGO — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was expected to quickly sign a controversial bill that sharply curtails the collective bargaining rights of most public employee unions and requires government employees to pay more towards their health care premiums and pensions.

CHICAGO — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker toured the state Wednesday to promote his $59 billion budget proposal that would eliminate a $3.6 billion deficit with steep spending cuts that Democrats, school districts, and some local governments warned would strain budgets and hurt students, services and jobs.

CHICAGO — Wisconsin lawmakers reconvened Tuesday with the clock ticking on Gov. Scott Walker's plan to restructure $165 million of debt service due May 1.

CHICAGO — Menasha would pay holders of $23 million of defaulted steam-plant bond anticipation notes $17.5 million under a proposed cash settlement that would end bondholder litigation and put the Wisconsin city on a path towards rebuilding its credit.

The chances that Ambac Assurance Corp. will be able to keep $700 million of disputed tax refunds increased last week when a federal court in Wisconsin again threw out the Internal Revenue Service’s case against the bond insurer.

CHICAGO — In his inaugural state of the state address, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker vowed to eliminate a budget deficit of more than $3 billion in the next biennium without “short-term fixes” like borrowing. He also called on state employees to shoulder a greater share of their pension and health care costs.

CHICAGO — New Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker hasn’t released a proposed fiscal 2012-13 budget to address a $3.3 billion deficit, but Standard & Poor’s is confident the state will close the gap and maintain its current AA rating due to its “financial discipline.”

CHICAGO — Wisconsin will competitively sell $430 million of 20-year general obligation bonds Thursday to fund bricks-and-mortar capital projects in the new administration’s first debt issuance, according to capital finance director Frank Hoadley.

Ted Nickel was named commissioner of the Wisconsin insurance office on Tuesday, replacing Sean Dilweg.

CHICAGO — The new governors of neighboring Minnesota and Wisconsin, in their inaugural addresses this week, offered similar pledges to tighten their states’ belts and focus on job creation, but veered far apart on the issue of tax increases.

The Racine Unified School District will ask voters on the April ballot to approve $83.5 million of general obligation borrowing.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Milwaukee County's AA-plus general obligation rating but the agency revised its outlook to negative from stable due to the county's budget struggles.

CHICAGO — Wisconsin’s budget deficit going into the next fiscal biennium ranges from $1.5 billion to $3 billion, depending on who is interpreting the figures.

CHICAGO — Hoping to capitalize on the lull in supply slated for this week, Wisconsin will take competitive bids Monday on $200 million of transportation revenue bonds in a deal that includes a mix of tax-exempt securities and taxable Build America Bonds.

CHICAGO — Repayment of $46.6 million of taxable tribal gaming revenue bonds issued for the Lac du Flambeau tribe in Wisconsin is in the hands of a federal appellate panel after lawyers for the tribe and bondholders laid out their arguments in a dispute over whether the trust indenture required federal approval.

CHICAGO — Midwestern voters next week go to the polls to decide the fate of $2.16 billion worth of borrowing requests, choose new governors, and decide spending and taxing measures.

CHICAGO — Minnesota will competitively sell $291 million of water-related state revolving fund bonds Tuesday, followed closely by a $164 million clean water issue from neighboring Wisconsin, as both seek to tap the Build America Bond program ahead of its expiration this year.

CHICAGO — Dane County — home to Wisconsin’s capital city of Madison — lost its AAA general obligation rating from Fitch Ratings as it grapples with operating deficits that city officials hope to reverse next year.

Moody’s Investors Service said the proposed rehabilitation plan to deal with Ambac Assurance Corp.’s segregated account of high-risk insured assets is a credit positive and, if confirmed by the courts, will put the Wisconsin-domiciled bond insurer “one step closer to an orderly run-off.”

Wisconsin insurance commissioner Sean Dilweg Friday announced a rehabilitation plan for the riskiest assets — mostly mortgage-backed securities — insured by Ambac Assurance Corp. The plan aims to fairly compensate holders of the risky assets without depleting the insurer of its ability to pay other future claims, including insured municipal bonds.