Ahead of The Bond Buyer's Infrastructure Conference in Chicago this week, Carlos Braceras, Utah's transportation secretary, talks with Caitlin Devitt about overseeing the largest transportation program in the state's history. He discusses the projects and challenges that go along with creating safe and efficient transportation infrastructure for the fastest-growing state in the union. (33 minutes).

Building off his success in creating a revolutionary website as Massachusetts assistant treasurer of debt management, BondLink founder Colin MacNaught has grown his firm into 45 states.

In other asset classes, there has been more transparency, activity and efficiency due to electronic trading. The muni market has been behind in realizing how beneficial electronic trading can be, sources said.

Users can choose attributes, like callability or state of issue, to apply to different portfolios. This helps comply with Reg-BI and create investment strategies, the firm said.

Despite efforts to pinpoint the problems that stand in the way of data standardization, solving those issues is still a long way off, panelists at the Brookings Municipal Finance Conference said.

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli urged state agencies to do more to protect water systems from cyberattacks as Moody's Investors Service said cyber risks pose challenges to municipalities across the United States.

Through proposed SEC regulations, federal grants and cybersecurity insurance, areas of the public finance industry are adjusting to costly and omnipresent cyber threats. 

New York is seeking to procure a supercomputer to run artificial intelligence systems and gain a deeper understanding of the technology for more effective regulation. 

Some in the industry already use AI to help determine fair bid and offer prices and to summarize new-issue offering statements, but full integration into all aspects of the market is a ways away.

Some lawmakers are calling for a more cohesive federal strategy on broadband funding.

The application is a web-based workflow tool that houses data in a centralized location to reduce the need for users to go hunting all over the place for basic information, documents and records.

The amount of time governments took to produce audited financials has increased by double-digits during an 11-year period.

The state seeks "long-term stable funding" to advance the nation's largest infrastructure project, which remains in slow motion after almost 15 years.

"Many asset managers are using too many systems to do one job," said Justin Land, CEO of AG Analytics.

Spline's curves are offered in a variety of configurations, including by rating, source of payback, and trade size, and are updated every five minutes.

Keeley Webster, a Bond Buyer senior reporter, discusses with Rudy Salo, a Nixon Peabody partner, funding and logistical challenges California, and the country, face as they stretch toward the future with plans for high speed rail, electric vehicle charging networks while incorporating more traditional mass transit. (29 minutes)

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

Exploring why some call 2022 "the year of the great reset" and what that may mean for the muni market this year.

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