Industries

Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell Monday proposed implementing a profits tax on oil companies and raising motor vehicle fees to generate more than $1 billion per year to help finance road, bridge, and mass transit needs throughout the state.

DALLAS — The Bexar County, Tex., Hospital District plans to price $205 million of certificates of obligation Wednesday backed by the Build America Bond subsidy to expand San Antonio’s University Health System.

As members of Congress and the White House struggle to find a suitable replacement for, or addition to, the current gas tax that provides funding for transportation infrastructure, at least one lawmaker is floating the idea of a sales tax on motor fuels.

A poll this week of 504 Pennsylvania residents shows that 95% of participants believe that the quality of the state's transportation is extremely, very, or somewhat important to the state's economy. Overall, 69% of those polled said that the state should increase its spending on roads, bridges, and highways, Republican pollster Frank Luntz said during a press conference with Gov. Edward Rendell Thursday on the survey.

A group of Washington and Oregon leaders signed off this month on important parameters for one of the Northwest's biggest planned public works projects — a replacement for the Interstate 5 crossing of the Columbia River.

Amid big changes in leadership and policies, the North Texas Tollway Authority has agreed to build what could be its last major project for several years.

Moody's Investors Service cut Torrance Memorial Medical Center's long-term rating to A2 from A1 ahead of a $234 million issue planned for next month.

The Delaware River Port Authority is embarking on a series of reforms intended to professionalize the bi-state agency, which has been the subject of allegations of fiscal mismanagement, and avoid similar problems in the future.

Seattle Children's Hospital will price $118 million of fixed-rate revenue bonds today in a deal driven partly by the huge demand for tax-exempt paper.

The Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority could deplete its debt-service reserve in the current fiscal year, which could result in a payment default next July, Florida Department of Transportation officials said Wednesday.

The Oklahoma Transportation Commission last week approved the sale of $215 million of bonds to finance the next phase of the state's eight-year highway plan. The blueprint, which includes almost $4.3 billion of road and bridge work through 2018, is updated annually.

The Kansas Department of Transportation will begin a $1.7 billion bond financing for the state's new transportation plan with today's negotiated sale of $325 million of taxable Build America Bonds.

WASHINGTON — The South Carolina Department of Transportation is challenging the Connector 2000 Association Inc.’s Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing, delaying efforts to restructure $369 million of the agency’s toll road bonds that went into default at the beginning of the year.

Many states will have to revisit their fiscal 2011 budgets and may have to rearrange their spending plans due to gaps between what they expected and what they actually receive from a six-month extension of extra federal Medicaid funding.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Kentucky Asset/Liability Commission on Wednesday expects to price $468 million of taxable notes to refinance obligations the state owes to the Teachers’ Retirement System for medical benefits.

DALLAS — The University of Texas System has approved building an $800 million hospital at its UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas that will be financed largely through revenue bonds.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is looking for $32.5 million of federal funds to help finance added rail capacity at Boston’s South Station.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is gearing up to sell about $600 million of revenue debt on Wednesday, including taxable Build America Bonds, to help finance infrastructure needs on the state’s 535-mile toll road.

WASHINGTON — Two medical groups have asked the Internal Revenue Service to allow hospitals to be flexible when conducting the community health needs assessments required under the health care reform law.

CHICAGO — The cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools will receive about $100 million from Illinois’ share of education funding in the new $26 billion federal jobs law, local and federal officials said Wednesday.