Economy

A coalition of House Democrats is calling for Build America Bonds, a national infrastructure bank, and high-speed rail as part of a plan to improve transportation and stimulate job growth.

WASHINGTON — The Maryland Transportation Authority is proposing its first statewide toll increases to generate more revenue to back bonds that were issued for two major highway projects and for rehabilitating aging infrastructure.

Massachusetts’ largest public transportation agency Tuesday will leverage future parking revenues through a newly formed nonprofit entity to pay down outstanding debt and provide near-term budget relief.

CHICAGO — With the budget behind him, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said his top priority is swift passage of a bill that allows the state to enter into a public-private partnership to build a $4 billion Detroit River bridge that will be partially financed with tax-exempt bonds.

DALLAS — The proposed $1.2 billion University Medical Center hospital in New Orleans will require an annual subsidy from Louisiana of $100 million, according to a new financial analysis of the 424-bed facility.

WASHINGTON — State revenues are expected to rise in fiscal years 2011 and 2012, but a record jump in Medicaid costs, combined with voters’ reluctance to take on new debt, could keep states from issuing bonds for infrastructure and other investment projects, officials and market participants said Thursday.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has scheduled a second meeting with local officials in Virginia for Friday as he tries to break an impasse over the cost of the second phase of the Washington, D.C., Metrorail extension to Dulles International Airport.

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.

WASHINGTON — State and local transportation decision-making fits no pattern and varies widely cross the country as governments try to cope with needs that overwhelm their available financing, according to a first-of-a-kind report released Wednesday.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Less than 30 days remain before an expected payment default on the bonds issued by the Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority to build the tolled 3.5-mile-long Garcon Point Bridge in northern Florida.

Fitch Ratings last week revised the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority’s outlook to negative ahead of a planned refunding.

After years of delays, the $1.8 billion, 26-mile toll road known as the Wekiva Parkway is finally getting a jump-start.

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.

San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee Tuesday unveiled a proposed charter amendment to reform city employee pension and health benefits.

CHICAGO — The financial toll of the tornado that ripped through Joplin, Mo., on Sunday, killing more than 100 and destroying a local hospital, remains unknown, but Moody’s Investors Service expects the health care system’s rating will weather the impact and Missouri said it stands ready with aid.

CHICAGO — A Wisconsin judge on Thursday struck down the state’s controversial law that curtailed the collective bargaining powers of most public unions and raised pension contributions and health care premiums, concluding that lawmakers violated state open-meetings rules in their haste to pass the legislation.

WASHINGTON — House Transportation Committee chairman John Mica wants to take the Northeast rail corridor away from Amtrak and privatize most of it to get true high-speed rail service — trains that can travel at 220 miles per hour.

Senate transportation committee leaders have agreed to fund the TIFIA program at $1 billion per year as part of a six-year highway and transit funding bill that they plan to introduce in two weeks.

The Louisiana House Ways and Means Committee adopted a $4.8 billion construction bill this week, but yanked the authorization for $900 million of revenue bonds for the proposed new state hospital in New Orleans.

The Illinois General Assembly recently passed legislation to establish a commission charged with recommending the best way to implement a public-private partnership to aid in financing, construction and operation of a high-speed rail system.