Private activity bonds

A $300 million bond and a planned monkey breeding facility's fate are at stake in a legal struggle in Georgia.

With the threat to tax exempt municipal bonds looming in a Congress searching for pay-fors, private activity bonds supporting hospitals and higher education are high on the list of potential first targets.

Housing advocates concerned about the fate of private activity bonds are working on strategies for getting PABs and tax-exempt munis off the table while Congress searches for ways to pay for tax cut extensions.

The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act is reintroduced in the House of Representatives with bipartisan support to increase the development of affordable housing by leveraging private activity bonds and loosening restriction on Low Income Housing Tax Credits.

An Oklahoma agency is borrowing $1.15 billion through an unrated tax-exempt Public Finance Authority bond deal to build and equip a tire factory backed by Finnish interests.

"If you're an issuer, this is fly-in season," said Jarrod Loadholt, partner at Ice Miller LLP. "Don't hope someone else is going to solve this for you — they're not."

Bond trustee UMB Trust has engaged Lighthouse Management Group to serve as the receiver.

It marks a major step forward for the long-stalled high-speed train project between Dallas and Houston.

The Senate hearing comes as lawmakers start to shape the next surface transportation bill.

Native American Tribes are working their way through Congressional committees looking for support on legislation that would allow the tribes to issue municipal bonds using the same rules as state governments.