Southwest

DALLAS — The Texas Senate’s proposed $158.7 billion spending plan for fiscal 2012 and 2013 is 15% lower than the current $187.5 billion budget but $2.3 billion more than the House’s two-year budget proposal.

DALLAS — For issuers who need it, bond insurance nowadays is very expensive, even if it is available. But local governments in Texas are still finding their way to market with state guarantees that offer low up-front costs and result in attractive long-term rates.

DALLAS — J. Kevin Ward, executive administrator of the Texas Water Development Board, is leaving the agency after 22 years to become general manager of the Trinity River Authority.

DALLAS — The Oklahoma budget- stabilization fund has been so depleted that it’s no longer enough to cover the cost of a cup of coffee at most restaurants, let alone help balance the state budget.

DALLAS — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and top legislative leaders vowed last week to reform structural problems they said almost ensured expenditures would continue to exceed available revenues.

WASHINGTON — The Utah Housing Corp. has filed a lawsuit against two brokers — CDR Financial Products Inc. and Investment Management Advisory Group Inc. — and eight providers of guaranteed investment contracts, claiming they knowingly engaged in bid-rigging activities to artificially suppress interest rates on investment agreements it purchased for its housing bond proceeds.

DALLAS — Dallas is facing a revenue gap in fiscal 2012 of at least $41 million, city manager Mary Suhm said Wednesday at the City Council’s first briefing on next year’s budget.

The first outline of a spending plan from the Texas Legislative Budget Board calls for deep cuts in public education, programs for the needy, and criminal justice, while preserving a $9.4 billion rainy-day fund.

DALLAS — Trustees of the Socorro Independent School District may ask voters in May to approve a $297 million general obligation bond program to build new facilities for the fast-growing system in El Paso County, Texas.

DALLAS — Faced with a weakening municipal debt market, Glendale, Ariz., is considering a private placement for up to $125 million of revenue bonds to keep the Phoenix Coyotes playing hockey in the city-owned Jobing.com arena.