Bonds

The Texas Senate last week passed what one lawmaker called “off-the-charts, historical, record, unprecedented property tax relief.”  At $16.5 billion over the upcoming biennium, State Sen. Paul Bettencourt’s string of superlatives for the tax cut package appears to be justified.  Cheered on by Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who heads the Senate, the measures sailed

Municipals finished out a nerve-wracking week on a strong note, with yields falling by as much as nine basis points on the short end while U.S. Treasuries strengthened and equities came under pressure. As holders of bank stocks headed for the exits and muni investors looked on nervously from the sidelines as the Federal Open

Lawmakers in Maine hoping to avoid a government shutdown at the turn of the fiscal year are working to cleave Gov. Janet Mills’ $10.3 billion biennial budget proposal in two. The state Senate’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee announced on Thursday a plan to partition the governor’s proposal for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 into

A Texas House committee ditched an appropriation to potentially pay off $3.52 billion of recently issued bonds from a natural gas securitization deal, but left open the possibility for the funding’s return. Thursday’s action by the House Appropriations Committee approving its version of a supplemental appropriations bill without the funding came the same day the

Moody’s Investors Service raised the outlook on Guam to positive from stable on Thursday. The outlook is on the Ba1 rating of the territory’s general obligation, special tax rating, and the Ba2 rating on its certificates of participation rating, all of which were affirmed. The improved outlook stems from Guam’s improved financial position resulting from

New York officials are looking with caution as the fallout from the Signature and Silicon Valley Bank failures casts a pall over budget negotiations. Both the city and the state are working on their fiscal 2024 budgets. The state’s fiscal year begins April 1 while the city’s starts on July 1. Amid rising inflation and

Wisconsin’s Republican legislative majority delivered its latest rebuke to Gov. Tony Evers’ biennial spending plan with their rejection of the Democrat’s $3.8 billion capital plan. The State Building Commission — which includes Evers, four Republican members, two Democrats, and a citizen voting member — rejected all of Evers’ line items at its meeting Thursday in

Municipals were slightly firmer in spots, while U.S. Treasuries extended their rally once more and equities ended up. The two-year muni-UST ratio was at 65%, the three-year at 66%, the five-year at 68%, the 10-year at 69% and the 30-year at 93%, according to Refinitiv MMD’s 3 p.m. ET read. ICE Data Services had the

A bill prohibiting state and local government contracts with large banks that “discriminate” against the firearm industry cleared the Republican-controlled Oklahoma House Wednesday as lawmakers try again to enact a ban. Ahead of the 74-19 vote, House Bill 2218 was amended to apply only to financial institutions with at least $50 billion in assets. For

Whether the not-for-profit hospital sector earns its exemptions from taxes and the related ability to issue tax-exempt debt takes center stage in a new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis. The foundation’s report values the benefits of tax-exempt status for hospitals at nearly $12 billion more than the amount of discounted and free care they provided in

The Washington state Senate’s capital construction budget would nix Gov. Jay Inslee’s plan to issue $4 billion in housing bonds to spur construction and expedite efforts to lessen the state’s housing crisis. In December, Inslee released a housing proposal as part of his budget that included placing a referendum on the ballot for the bonds,

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bondholders asked a magistrate to intervene on discovery issues but were rebuffed. Magistrate Judith Dein, who is handling discovery matters, denied the request because the Oversight Board said it was still considering bondholders’ discovery requests. She ordered the sides to continue to negotiate, with the bondholders filing a status report

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the City Council paid tribute last week to longtime Chicago Civic Federation President Laurence Msall for his work over two decades holding government leaders’ feet to the fire on fiscal management practices. Msall died unexpectedly Feb. 4 at 61 after heart surgery. Msall took over in 2002 as president of

The Virgin Islands Superior Court ruled the territory’s Senate has the power to alter the Water and Power Authority’s board of directors, a decision one municipal bond analyst called a credit positive. The court upheld a Senate bill requiring board members to have greater expertise in energy, technology, economics, and finance; reducing the number of

EDITORS’ PICKComplimentary access to top ideas and insights — curated by our editors. The Bond Buyer is excited to announce the return of the Hall of Fame of municipal finance for a second class of inductees, alongside the eighth annual class of Rising Stars, a program which showcases the brightest young minds in this industry.

Municipals were firmer in spots to end a chaotic week that saw triple-A benchmarks both follow U.S. Treasuries in a flight to quality and ignore UST movements — as munis did on Friday for the most part — as the banking sector crisis continued. USTs rallied and equities sold off Friday. Triple-A benchmarks were bumped

Regional leaders in the Northeast kept up high-profile efforts to show support for local entities facing challenges after the failures of Silicon Valley Bank in California and Signature Bank in New York. Despite federal measures to backstop all deposits, even those higher than the $250,000 deposit insurance limit, the failure of the California bank, which

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed an independent watchdog within the California Energy Commission to monitor the state’s petroleum market on a daily basis. The proposal represents a shift from his plan to place a cap on oil company profits, though it would give the commission more authority to investigate gasoline price spikes and the

Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said the Federal Reserve shouldn’t be spooked into easing its campaign to contain inflation out of excessive concern about a credit crunch in the wake of the recent banking turmoil. “It would be very unfortunate if, out of solicitude for the banking system, the Fed were to slow down its

The banking sector crisis cast a wide net of influence over the municipal market this week, stirring pricing volatility, upending monetary policy predictions and raising questions among participants over how deep the troubles run and whether the potential contagion will roil economic prospects. Silvergate Bank’s March 8th announcement it was closing up shop led the