News and Information from Bond Buyer

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority made a key bond payment of $418 million to avert what would have been a record default for the muni market.

Government

Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla signed a $9.56 billion General Fund budget Tuesday.

Municipal bonds weakened as the third quarter started, leaving traders to look to seasonal reinvestment and non-traditional buyers to help offset concerns over Puerto Rico credits.

California Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Tia Boatman-Patterson, a Democrat, to be executive director of the California Housing Finance Authority.

The Internal Revenue Service continued its pattern of granting issuers more time to spend the proceeds of their qualified school construction bonds, ruling that one authority can have an additional three years to spend its QSCB proceeds.

Illinois entered the new fiscal year Tuesday with $4.6 billion in unpaid bills and another $1.1 billion expected in the coming months, according to data provided by Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka's office.

The New Jersey Education Association will sue New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on his underfunding of the pension system in the fiscal year 2015 budget, a NJEA spokesman said Tuesday.

Moody's Investors Service said it has downgraded the commonwealth of Puerto Rico to B2 from Ba2, affecting $14.4 billion of outstanding general obligation bonds.

A $1 billion plan to create Austin's first urban rail system and to consider other transportation developments won unanimous endorsement from the city council.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it has lowered its long-term rating to D from CC on the Please Touch Museum (PTM), Pa.'s series 2006 revenue bonds.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sees public-private partnerships as a potential funding source for water infrastructure projects.

Keolis, 70%-owned by the French national railway SNCF, assumed Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail operations.

Chicago will host its annual investors' conference on Friday, Aug. 8 to update market participants on the city's credit including progress made over the last year on the pension front and ongoing strains.

The Bond Dealers of America have released a paper prepared by Nixon Peabody LLP that aims to explain to issuers how their relationships with the brokers that handle their investments will change now that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s municipal advisor registration rule is in effect.

Standard & Poor's has downgraded Good Shepherd Health System to a junk-bond rating of BB-plus as the East Texas healthcare provider tries to stave off an accelerated debt payment schedule.

Kansas ended its fiscal year June 30 with revenues running $338 million below projections, officials said.

Raymond James is continuing its expansion on the West Coast with the recent addition of an education banker to its public finance group in San Francisco.

Goldman Sachs won the largest deal of the week: $554.5 million of Alabama Public School and College Authority capital improvement refunding bonds.

The Bond Dealers of America is making another push for changes to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative after the SEC rejected BDA's earlier requests to narrow the scope of the program and extend its deadline.