News and Information from Bond Buyer

ILLINOIS

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on Sept. 29 to discuss the “dire financial situation” in Puerto Rico, committee chair Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Tuesday.

The authors of a California pension initiative effort are abandoning their existing measure and writing a new one.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday began the hard sell for a record property tax increase to make good on the city’s enormous police and fire pension bill.

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority reached a debt restructuring agreement with its lines of credit lenders Tuesday afternoon.

Government

The Tennessee Valley Authority said it priced $1 billion of 50-year global power bonds on Sept. 21 at an all-time low interest rate of 4.25%.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s operating budget is unsustainable, said a report by its new fiscal oversight board.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s five members unanimously agreed on Tuesday to propose a rule and amendments that would require open-end mutual funds and exchange traded funds to take steps to manage liquidity risks so they could handle redemptions during periods of financial stress.

Prices of top-rated municipal bonds finished mostly stronger on Tuesday, traders said, as several large issues came to market. Leading the primary pack were $1 billion of bonds from the New York City Transitional Finance Authority and over $1 billion of notes from the state of Massachusetts.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency released a description of its methodology for rating not-for-profit higher education, a sector that's shown signs of stabilizing.

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority's prospects of a consensual outcome in its debt talks were thrown into doubt after bond insurers quit the forbearing bondholder group, analysts and participants said.

Florida-based Adventist Health System agreed to pay $118.7 million to settle allegations that it had physician referral agreements that violated the federal False Claims Act.

Atlantic City has positioned itself to make short-term required debt payments with no plans to enter bankruptcy, according to the city’s revenue director Michael Stinson.

An airport group wants airlines to drop their opposition to higher passenger facility fees that finance local infrastructure.

Chicago plans as much as $3 billion of airport, wastewater revenue, and general obligation borrowing -- mostly for refunding and restructuring purposes -- that officials say can’t wait on an improved market climate for city debt.

Pennsylvania Auditor Eugene DePasquale’s pending report will weigh the effect of the state budget impasse on schools districts and social service agencies.

Standard & Poor's affirmed its AA-minus rating for San Francisco Unified School District.

Prices of top-rated municipal bonds were mostly stronger at mid-session, traders said, as several large issues were priced in the primary. Leading the pack were $1 billion of bonds from the New York City Transitional Finance Authority and over $1 billion of notes from the state of Massachusetts.

The Internal Revenue Service chief counsel’s office has issued a technical advice memorandum that was favorable to an issuer of advance refunding bonds.