Muni Think

An update on the Florida "dirt bond" sector — restructuring trends, new issuance, and trading activity.

There are options in addition to federal outlays to help fund a recovery from Hurricane Sandy. Action will require a much-needed act of bipartisanship.

What do active participants in the municipal market really think about bond insurance?

The looming threat of sequestration has become a concern for holders of taxable Build America Bonds.

Stockton's city manager and its interim debt manager say the city's bankruptcy filing has generated much discussion — and some misinformation — regarding local government finances in California.

Recent comments by the National Association of Independent Public Finance Advisors misstate the intent and value of the Dold Bill, which was approved on a bipartisan, unanimous basis by the Financial Services Committee and the U.S. House of Representatives.

Recent convictions in a series of bid-rigging trials have provided the municipal market a false sense that severely troubling conduct is in the past.

The National Association of Independent Public Finance Advisors opposes passage of the Dold Amendment saying it subjects issuers to the same abuses Dodd-Frank was intended to curtail.

After last year's debt ceiling debacle, it is hard to imagine that Congress will strike a compromise to forestall the "Fiscal Cliff" facing us at the end of this year.

On September 12, the House Financial Services Committee passed, on a unanimous, bipartisan, 60-0 vote, legislation (H.R. 2827) to clarify the Dodd-Frank Act as it relates to regulating municipal advisors. The Committee’s action is notable and welcome for several reasons.