Southwest

Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, has filed a bill allowing Texas state colleges and universities to issue a total of $100 million of tuition revenue bonds. She said she wants to be ready to move if Gov. Rick Perry expands the bills that could be considered in the current special legislative session.

One of the last acts by the Oklahoma Legislature before it adjourned last week was the creation of a 10-member panel that will study state tax exemptions and exclusions and determine those that are no longer useful.

Revenue collections in the first 11 months of fiscal 2011 total $5.1 billion, an increase of almost $200 million from the same period last year, the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration said last week.

The State Board of Accountancy has dropped its investigation into whether Surprise chief financial officer Scott McCarty unlawfully claimed he was a certified public accountant in Arizona.

Arizona’s general fund revenue collections in April totaled $827 million, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee reported last week, marking the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year growth in state revenue.

DALLAS — Steady growth in Oklahoma revenues over the past 12 months indicates the state is recovering from the Great Recession, Treasurer Ken Miller said at a news conference on Thursday.

DALLAS — A temporary one-cent sales tax increase approved by Arizona voters in May 2010 has produced $100 million less than originally projected and failed to prevent $454 million in cuts to education and a $564 million rollback in health care spending, according to state reports.

DALLAS — Texas Gov. Rick Perry called the Legislature into a 30-day special session that began Tuesday after a Democratic filibuster killed a combination revenue bill and school funding reform measure aimed at balancing the two-year state budget that was agreed to over the weekend.

DALLAS — The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, the first toll road agency of its kind in Texas, is looking for yield-hungry investors willing to take a risk on $374 million of revenue bonds at or below investment grade next week.

DALLAS — Harris County, Texas, has asked five law firms involved with 30 county bond issues over three years to return $300,586 of undocumented travel and entertainment expenses.