Economy

CHICAGO — The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority plans in early to mid-June to sell $400 million of refunding bonds as it moves to shift a chunk of synthetic floating-to-fixed-rate debt to a traditional fixed-rate structure to reduce bank and liquidity risks.

LOS ANGELES — The first public-private partnership project under a program championed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently cleared a major procedural hurdle, though questions remain over whether the Presidio Parkway project is the right way to use P3s.

DALLAS — The University of Colorado Hospital will use bond financing for a $400 million expansion at the new Anschutz Medical Campus at the site of the former Fitzsimons Army Hospital in Aurora, officials said yesterday.

An economic analysis of the new state teaching hospital in New Orleans has recommended that the bond issue for the facility be increased by $150 million.

An analysis of the Georgia Department of Transportation’s first public-private partnership outlines significant economic development benefits for the Atlanta metropolitan area and the state as a whole.

CHICAGO — The federal health care overhaul could cost Indiana up to $2.9 billion through 2020, a new report estimates.

The Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority yesterday signed off on Mercy Alliance’s $48 million bond sale scheduled for this week.

A $425 million plan to build a new convention center and medical merchandise mart in downtown Cleveland advanced last week as the Cuyahoga County Commission approved the purchase of the last piece of land needed for the complex.

A Michigan House subcommittee last week approved three bills that would authorize a bond-issuing regional authority to oversee a 400-mile mass transit system running throughout the Detroit area.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority could sell revenue anticipation notes to fill a hole caused by New York’s withholding of subsidies, officials said at a finance committee meeting yesterday. This month the state has withheld $275 million of certain aid payments to the MTA, officials said.

A group of senators led by Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., were poised late yesterday to introduce legislation that would provide public transit systems across the country with $2 billion of emergency operating funds to help ease the strain on their budgets.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Murphy ­McCalley has joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch as a director in its transportation group, the firm announced Friday.

The Denver Health and Hospital Authority will use $29 million of health care recovery zone revenue bonds to build a 78,500-square-foot pavilion for adolescent psychology, outpatient operating rooms, a procedure center, and parking.

CHICAGO — With Illinois behind a record $290 million in payments to the Regional Transportation Authority, the agency is awaiting Gov. Pat Quinn’s signature on a bill that would allow it to issue an additional $140 million of taxable cash-flow notes to keep Chicago-area trains and buses running.

Eleven Northeast states are asking the Federal Railroad Administration to cover $15 million of an $18.8 million study they hope will help improve and expand high-speed rail service in their corridor.

New Jersey legislators last week passed a resolution that urges the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to develop funding and engineering solutions to increase the Bayonne Bridge’s air clearance and accommodate larger vessels.

WASHINGTON — Congressional committees have set a July 4 target date for the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill to be signed into law, but lawmakers must clear a few obstacles including their differences over a bond-related provision before the legislation can be finalized.

DALLAS — The Louisiana State Bond Commission gave its approval yesterday to refunding and restructuring $300 million of fuel-tax bonds issued in May 2009 to finance a portion of a constitutionally mandated transportation program.

Moody’s Investors Service raised the debt rating of Hawaii Pacific Health to A3 from Baa1, citing four years of improved operating performance and a greatly simplified debt structure.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded its underlying rating for the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency’s toll revenue bonds to BBB-minus from BBB.