News and Information from Bond Buyer

Issuance for the week of June 30 is estimated at $2.495 billion, with $2.039 billion of negotiated deals and $456.3 million of competitive deals on tap, according to LSEG.

Hamilton County, Ohio, announced a deal Thursday to pay $350 million in county funds toward the $470 million cost of renovations to Paycor Stadium.

Damages awarded to the developer are several times tiny Cle Elum's $5 million general fund budget for 2025.

A Kansas state legislative council will meet next month to keep a 2024 bond-financing law alive at the request of the Missouri-based Kansas City Chiefs.

Sacramento Municipal Utility District officials credit the Kestrel green verification for attracting a new buyer to its commercial paper.

Investors added $79.6 million to municipal bond mutual funds in the week ended Wednesday, following $110 million of inflows the prior week, according to LSEG Lipper data.

Soon after it sold $687.3 million of bonds, Chicago returned to market with $82.55 million for housing and economic development in a deal set to close Monday.

The proposal is an effort to placate Republicans worried about the reconciliation bill's deep cuts to Medicaid.

Hays County's Nov. 5 election for nearly $440 million of bonds, which won voter approval, was voided by a state judge due to an open meetings act violation.

The ratings agency said fund balances had declined as a percent of operating revenues and are expected to decline further.

Senator Joni Ernest has reintroduced the Modernizing Agricultural and Manufacturing Bonds Act, long- simmering bipartisan legislation backed by the CDFA and BDA.

The first public bond issue from Everglades College, Inc., will finance projects on the institution's Keiser University flagship campus in West Palm Beach.

As the end of the first half of a so-far tumultuous 2025 approaches, several municipal bond analysts are upbeat about the rest of the year.

Continued state and city support for the MTA's capital projects was the primary driver for Moody's Ratings upgrade to A2.

The updated document also addresses disclosure relating to cybersecurity.

Attorneys and muni advocates are concerned as the Senate reviews the budget reconciliation process against the "Byrd Rule."

Washington State Gov. Bob Ferguson said he doesn't plan on calling a special session to deal with lowered revenue expectations.

The addition is part of a push to expand the firm's presence in New York public finance, Jonathan Ballan told The Bond Buyer.

Indiana's Senate Enrolled Act 1 raises questions about local income tax-backed bonds, appearing to lack protections for bondholders as currently written.

"The trend of heavy issuance that began last year has continued in the first half of 2025, surpassing even our rather optimistic expectations," said Barclays strategists Mikhail Foux, Grace Cen and Francisco San Emeterio.

The selloff highlights the lack of accurate pricing and credit information across the speculative-grade muni market.

Some market participants said they were sad to see EMMA Labs go.

New guidelines require local governments to receive the state's comptroller's approval before issuing debt with variable interest rates, put options, or interest rate reset options.

In this panel from The Bond Buyer's recent Southeast Public Finance event, top public finance officials from Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Alabama, and Florida share how they evaluate bankers, bond counsel, and municipal advisors, and what makes a pitch fall flat.

The $247.75 million of unrated tax-exempt bonds will finance public infrastructure and projects for an initial development on state-owned land.

So far, the financial market reaction has been limited, said Paul Christopher, head of global investment strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

Oregon's Senate president altered the make-up of the transportation committee to get the massive tax bill passed.

"The market itself should want to look at this because no one wants to give the perception of impropriety," said an investor of Stefanik's allegation that Harvard withheld material information regarding its ongoing conflict with the Trump administration.

A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction against the U.S. Department of Transportation's attempt to withhold federal funds from states judged to be in noncompliance with the Trump administration's immigration policies.

The deal could hasten buy-side adoption of the tech, said Spline's CEO

The bonds will help fund the agency's capital improvement plan.

The archdiocese allegedly backed away from repeated promises bond parties would be paid in full, they said.

With one full week of June left and the end of the second quarter approaching, the week was "a sort of Groundhog Day for municipal yields," said Kim Olsan, senior fixed income portfolio manager at NewSquare Capital.

After a special legislative session, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed legislation authorizing state-backed bonds for stadiums to keep teams in Missouri.

The proposal would effectively cancel part of a rule change that had not yet become effective.

Kelly Hancock resigned his state senate seat and assumed a position that will make him acting comptroller after current Comptroller Glenn Hegar leaves office.

The Internal Revenue Service and the University of Rhode Island appear to have settled an inquiry by the agency regarding the tax status of higher education facility revenue bonds issued in 2018.

Washington and Oregon are still nailing down the final cost and toll rates for the long-planned replacement for the aging spans carrying I-5 across the river.

Cook County faces a general fund budget gap of $102.6 million in 2026, and many grants are at risk under the new White House and Republican-controlled Congress.

The FOMC's decision to "hold rates steady while signaling only two cuts this year was a subtle but powerful shift," said James Pruskowski, CIO at 16Rock Asset Management.

Florida lawmakers passed a state budget and approved plans to pay off $830 million of debt in fiscal 2026 in advance of maturity.

The rock-bottom prices show the risks of a high-yield market where liquidity is famously limited.

A colleague called the Florida-based lawyer "an institution" in the public finance community

Housing advocates are cheering the Senate's embrace of expanding Low Income Housing Tax Credits which ensures a volume increase and reduces a key bond threshold test.

Under the agreement, the NBA's Thunder will play for at least 25 years in an arena that will be largely financed by a sales tax revenue bond sale later this year.

A growing rainy-day fund helped Alaska win a Moody's Ratings upgrade, bringing the state's issuer and general obligation bond ratings to Aa2 from Aa3.

Deals from two small Michigan cities show how bond-funded improvements are used to keep up with water infrastructure replacement needs.

Tom Kozlik said he was particularly concerned about the impact of a scaled-back FEMA on issuers in the Southeast.

"We expect no change to rates but [for the Federal Open Market Committee] to continue to signal that rate cuts should still be expected," said Cooper Howard, a fixed income strategist at Charles Schwab.

The action stems from conduct that occurred from 2020-2023, FINRA alleged.

White, who served as CEO of the financial advisory firm for over three decades before retiring at the end of 2011, passed away on Friday.

Hillman is part of a spate of hirings deepening the firm's presence in certain regions and the transportation sector. 

K-12 public schools get a $55 per-student increase in the state basic allotment, while other funding is allocated to specific purposes.

In the first quarter of this year, 18.6% of new-issue volume in the market was traded electronically, up from 17.3% last year, according to data from Coalition Greenwich.

The Senate needs 51 votes to pass the bill, which has already sparked opposition from moderate and conservative Republicans.

Even before January's fires in Los Angeles, change-of-address data shows residential moves based on fire risks and insurance availability.

After two weeks of a deluge of issuance, supply drops off "given the FOMC meeting and Juneteenth holiday, so we expect investors will refocus on the secondary market and look to scoop up any value left behind in the wake of the issuance onslaught," said Birch Creek strategists.

"This case involves the discovery of a massive Ponzi-like fraud orchestrated by former GHA executive director Robert Cappelletti," plaintiffs GHA and Greater Groton Realty Corp., a non-profit affiliate of the GHA, said in an April court filing. 

As the Senate Finance Committee works on the the reconciliation puzzle, attorneys, accountants, and doctors are lobbying for keeping the pass-through exemptions that provide a workaround to the cap on state and local taxes in place.

Fitch cited the authority's stronger margins in recent years.

The panel is not expected to change rates, but the dot plot will be watched to see if the Fed's prior projection of two rate cuts this year holds.

Civic Builders, a 23-year-old nonprofit charter school developer and financer, borrowed though the public municipal bond market for the first time.

The state was one of three where one person was responsible for deciding how to invest pension money.

Issuance takes a bit of a breather due to the Juneteenth holiday and the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Barclays strategists said.

If passed it would untangle sections of the tax code that limits the use of Low-Income Housing Tax credits by Native American tribal governments.

The California High Speed Rail Authority said state funds and a potential public-private partnership would be able to cover the initial Central Valley segment.

"There's a lot more we can do now that we have a platform," said DPC DATA CEO Ken Hoffman.

The wait for finished audits dropped across municipal sectors from 2022 to 2023, a new report says, but the median time is still higher in the long run.

The tribal movement toward energy independence through renewable-powered microgrid projects has been slowed, if not stalled, by shifting political winds.

BlackRock strategists are "constructive" on munis for multiple reasons and think the current market environment presents itself as a buying opportunity, especially as issuance continues to be elevated and provides "ample ability" to source bonds in the primary market.

Hospital spreads have widened as investors wait to see how the One Big Beautiful Bill will impact providers.

The bond panel approved $215 million in public facilities revenue bonds and $125 million in housing bonds.

The mayor and city council chair of Washington D.C. are feuding in public over a deal to bring an NFL stadium to the city by leveraging over $1 billion in public financing.

As Congress grinds through the budget reconciliation, fixed income market experts are eyeballing an uncontrolled national debt while dreading a heavy-handed response from the Treasury bond market.

Southeast state governments are among the most dependent on federal Medicaid, SNAP and FEMA funding.

The U.S. Virgin Islands WAPA said the Public Service Commission's reduction of electric rates jeopardizes its ability to pay bills and provide electric service.

A "lighter-than-anticipated CPI report" led to UST firmness, as it "quelled fears about tariff-related inflation and boosted enthusiasm that the Fed will cut rates in the next two or three meetings," said José Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers.

The law has become no less controversial nearly three years after its passage.

In a Monday special session that went late into the night, the state legislature passed a $66 billion budget that includes a $700 million bonding bill.

The bill would exempt lead service line replacement projects from the IRS' private business use test.

CEO Michael Ruvo calls the Effi module an "offensive tool" that complements the firm's other transaction analytics instruments.

Bexar County officials passed a resolution related to a potential Nov. 4 ballot measure on venue taxes for a new San Antonio Spurs basketball arena.

The Columbus City Council approved a November ballot measure seeking voter approval for $1.9 billion of triple-A-rated general obligation bonds.

The elevated new-issue market comes on the heels of one of the largest weeks of issuance.

After the University of Idaho canceled plans to buy the for-profit online University of Phoenix, Moody's Ratings removed the school from watch for downgrade.

From elite universities to rural hospitals and ports, federal actions are shifting the muni credit landscape. IR+M's Wesly Pate explains how buy-side firms are reacting.

The Uinta Basin Railway's request for $2.4 billion of PABs comes as the U.S. Transportation Department is almost at its $30 billion debt cap.

The action follows an upgrade for the sole purchaser of its power.

"The broader themes from the demand perspective are that it's choppy and people are not necessarily jumping into high-yield munis with both feet," said First Eagle's John Miller.

The software uses pre-trade quote data to help predict the next trade level of bonds.

Municipal bond issuers in the state dodged a barrage of bills in this year's legislative session seeking to constrain their debt sales.

The state of Maryland is going to market on Wednesday by selling $1.56 billion of general obligation bonds, which will be the first major sale since the state absorbed a credit downgrade from Moody's.

Whether PREPA can pay the administrative expense claim doesn't affect its validity, the bond parties said.

However, the new-issue calendar may not be "absorbed as easily, given valuations have grown less compelling after this week's performance," said Birch Creek strategists.

Armed with higher ratings since its last sale four years ago, the city is set to return to the market with a bang. 

The National Association of Bond Lawyers is looking for answers from the Internal Revenue Service regarding a few questions.

The MSRB's decision to rescind the one-minute trade reporting deadline "comes after months of dialogue and engagement with market participants," MSRB President and CEO Mark Kim said.

Chicago is facing myriad headwinds. But its GO bond sale last week was oversubscribed and city officials said that allowed them to lower yields in repricing.

The university cut campuses in areas with declining populations; this week it plans to issue bonds to fund football stadium renovations.

The top five May bond financings totaled more than $5 billion.

The nonfarm payrolls report shows the economy is "hanging in there," though it is slowing, said Jeff MacDonald of Fiduciary Trust International.

Observers say a bankruptcy by Genera PR could complicate the PREPA bankruptcy.

Cities and states have until Aug. 1 to apply for the funds.

The U.S. economy added 139,000 jobs, a healthy clip that counters the president's calls for a rate cut to bolster the labor market.

The upshot of the report by Payden & Rygel's Travis McGahey is that the risk of severe credit deterioration and bond defaults remains low.

Notre Dame College in Ohio faces legal action on at least three fronts after defaulting on bond debt and a swap agreement and allegedly misusing donor funds.

This week the market has performed "exceedingly well" with the tailwind of June 1 reinvestment capital, said J.P. Morgan strategists led by Peter DeGroot.

"Nobody knows what scoring means," Trump said as the dispute over how the "One Big Beautiful Bill" plays out.

The utility expects the bonds to have an all-in true interest cost of 4.91%.

The hard-fought increase to the cap on state and local tax deductions that was instrumental to passing the House GOP tax bill is under fire in the Senate.

Ahead of a 14-3 vote to pass the $7 billion spending plan, concerns were raised about new legislation affecting the city's public safety pension funds.

The North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management says the state will have widening deficits starting in fiscal 2026 unless changes are made.

There is still a lot of chaos and uncertainty out there, said Jennifer Johnston, director of municipal bond research at Franklin Templeton.

The bullet train's delays and cost overruns amount to a material project change and event of default under the federal-state agreement, the FRA said.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is pricing $714.4 million worth of airport system revenue and refunding bonds on Thursday as part of a scheduled sale with an uncertain demand.

Washington has paid off $198 million of its bonds supporting the mixed-use development at The Wharf fifteen years before their maturity date bringing some good financial news to a city wrestling with its budget.

City comptroller Brad Lander says there's no legal mechanism to issue bitcoin bonds, whatever Mayor Eric Adams may have told a cryptocurrency conference.

The deal to buy the for-profit University of Phoenix faced opposition from the state attorney general and lawmakers and rating agency questions.

The muni market's self-regulatory organization has undergone major changes in its five decades, and challenges are ahead.

The St. Louis tornadoes came after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mothballed its tracker of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters.

"We're going to get a lot of price discovery with the big deals, a large number of deals, and then a lot of cash to put to work," said Whitney Fitts of Appleton Partners.

A legislative office predicted the tax cut package would lead to a loss of $500 million a year rather than be revenue neutral.

The Illinois General Assembly sent Chicago transit agencies closer to the fiscal cliff, adjourning without sending a funding bill to Gov. JB Pritzker.

The longtime muni bond strategist left Wells Fargo earlier this year.

The American Association of Port Authorities is pushing back at the Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act over plans to curtail two key grant programs vital to the maritime sector.

Colorado's largest water utility is prohibited from expanding Gross Reservoir, but can continue construction on Gross Dam, according to the ruling.

The twin Transportation Corridor Agencies issuers in Orange County, California, received Fitch Ratings upgrades for fiscal prudence and bond buydowns.

The SEC charged two entities with violating federal securities laws by advising clients on municipal bonds without properly registering as municipal advisors.

The Delta Center hockey and basketball venue will be renovated with proceeds from the $900 million Downtown Revitalization Public Infrastructure District deal.

Issuance this week soars to nearly $17 billion, and investors are "bracing for another hefty serving the following week," said Birch Creek strategists.

The Puerto Rico Oversight Board asked Judge Laura Taylor Swain to rule now and move quickly to disclosure and confirmation hearings.

"These are the types of products that financial advisors are asking to see from us," said First Eagle's John Miller.

"It is FINRA's position that, for multiple reasons discussed in its brief opposing Alpine's petition for writ of certiorari, the case did not meet the Supreme Court's standards for review," FINRA said.

As bond issuers and the infrastructure industry ponder a post-BIL future, some look to Europe for how P3s and privatization could help spur investment and raise grades on the infrastructure report card.

Primary bond market volume was up 3.6% year-over-year to $49.9 billion, according to LSEG data.

State governments would either have to spend more or fewer people would be covered, or a combination of the two, under the GOP's Medicaid and SNAP cuts.

The Indiana Financing Authority is the biggest entry on 2025's largest negotiated calendar with $1.5 billion of Indiana University Health system revenue bonds.

Chinese students comprise nearly half of international students attending University of California schools.

The $44 million of unrated bonds, placed only with qualified investors, feature 9.5% coupons.

The Senate returns to Washington with a ticking deadline clock to turn the House's One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law with questions remaining about the future of the SALT cap deduction and green energy tax credits.

Main Street Natural Gas, a blended component unit of Georgia Gas, issues most of the authority's debt.

A new law lifts the revenue bond cap for the Grand River Dam Authority to $3.6 billion from $1.41 billion

UMB hired 13 people from Wilmington Trust, and opened an Orange County office, to expand in municipal and corporate trustee, escrow and paying-agent services.

An economic slowdown partially fueled by tariff turmoil has forced West Coast states to lower revenue projections and slash budgets.