Municipal disclosure

The Republican ESG bill calls for studies on key muni market issues, including bans on soliciting business, ESG disclosure and investment decisions by underfunded state and local pension plans.

The investor-driven committee created guidelines to help small- and medium-sized issuers provide more uniform disclosure.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will host its Municipal Securities Disclosure Conference May 10

State Treasurer Dale Folwell said he backs the intent and purpose of the bill, which is supposed to make the bond issuance process more transparent.

Muni issuers are staunchly opposed to what they characterize as an unfunded mandate that provides limited benefits.

A panel of experts at The Bond Buyer's National Outlook Conference discussed the opportunities surrounding ESG for both investors and issuers.

Open data standards will help Flint "tell its story" and benchmark itself against other cities, said CFO Robert Widigan.

Municipal bond issuers are worried about what the recently passed Financial Data Transparency Act is going to cost them to implement.

Improved disclosure is likely to have a cost, though analysts have long maintained the benefits outweight that.

New regulations appear to be highlighting disagreements on major muni market topics.

The SEC is required to consult with municipal market participants when crafting the new disclosure data standards.

Some industry observers still question the need for machine-readable municipal disclosure.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Public Finance Abuse Division began looking in new directions, charging five different firms with violating 15c2-12 limited offering exemptions in addition to going after issuer officials.

Municipal issuers pushed hard but unsuccessfully against the bill, which gives them four years to standardize their financial information.

The latest version of a controversial financial disclosure bill includes changes that benefit muni issuers after a major push by the public finance lobby.

The provision shifts rulemaking and enforcement of the new disclosure standards to the SEC from the MSRB, which was charged with the task in an original version.

The MSRB's latest request for comment has won initial praise from broker-dealer groups.

Federal emergency aid, while protecting against downgrades and defaults in areas hit by extreme weather, won't bail out areas that face less visible climate effects like rising heat.

A lack of standards from regulators and ratings agencies leaves municipal credit analysts "on their own" when it comes to evaluating climate-related risks.

The influential financial advisory board has assembled a task force to sharpen terminology.