Municipal disclosure

Enrollment began to drop in the middle of the school year as rumors about immigration raids circulated through Fresno, Aspen Public Schools told bond investors.

With large language models parsing EMMA filings and investor relations sites, municipal issuers must modernize their disclosure so both humans and algorithms can accurately understand their credit story and avoid unintended red flags.

As climate and cybersecurity risks intensify, Jeff Lipton argues it's time for the legal community to lead a new era of municipal disclosure — tightening language, clarifying exposures, and ensuring investor confidence.

The attackers did not steal any data, but the firm had to rebuild its servers to get back into operation, said Albert Rodriguez, a manager at ImageMaster.

"If I wanted to target municipal finance, this would be a really good place for me to start," said Omid Rahmani, public finance cybersecurity lead at Fitch Ratings.

Four cities were ordered to halt recent tax hikes pending an investigation of whether they complied with a state law that enforces a deadline for annual audits.

Political dysfunction is far and away the leading economic and policy concern for muni market participants, according to a new Bond Buyer infrastructure survey.

The college's most recent annual comprehensive financial report is for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, and S&P is concerned by the lack of timely reporting.

Nevada's audited 2023 financials were released more than two years after the fiscal year ended. The state controller says structural changes will reduce delays.

Port Freeport's decision to go property tax-free resulted in a revenue bond rating downgrade from S&P and raised disclosure questions.

The legislature, which returns to respond to recent floods, could also take up bills to curb local property taxes, including bills aimed at bond issuance.

Questions over what to disclose in the bond document's risk section has concerned issuers for years, through issues like the pandemic to climate change, and now potential federal funding cuts.

The updated document also addresses disclosure relating to cybersecurity.

Some market participants said they were sad to see EMMA Labs go.

New guidelines require local governments to receive the state's comptroller's approval before issuing debt with variable interest rates, put options, or interest rate reset options.

The wait for finished audits dropped across municipal sectors from 2022 to 2023, a new report says, but the median time is still higher in the long run.

When Chicago barred media from its investor conference, it told journalists the policy aligned with peer municipalities' practices. The facts are less clear.

In the coming year, we'll find out if public pension disclosure and transparency have improved enough to protect municipal bond investors.

The non-profit climate advocacy organization called for better disclosure on climate risks and adaptation efforts as the prevalence of natural disasters grows.

The county will likely tap reserves, issue judgment obligation bonds and make departmental cuts to cover the $4 billion settlement.