California Republican Rep. Mike Garcia last week unveiled a bill that would block federal funds for the state’s controversial high-speed rail project. “After 15 years and billions of your hard-earned tax dollars spent, California’s high-speed rail has delivered zero results,” said Garcia in a statement announcing H.R. 9308, the No Frankenrail Act. “This so-called high-speed rail

Municipals were mostly steady Monday after a week of market volatility, as U.S. Treasury yields fell and equities were mixed at the close. Market participants are sitting back ahead of the week’s economic indicators, led by the Producer Price Index and Consumer Price Index reports on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. “The Treasury market may get

Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. pegged losses from estimated accrual of liabilities stemming from one of the worst wildfires in US history at $1.7 billion and issued a going-concern warning.  Hawaiian Electric said Aug. 2 that it had agreed to pay almost $2 billion as part of a $4 billion settlement to resolve hundreds of lawsuits

A proposed constitutional amendment on Colorado’s Nov. 5 ballot aimed at curbing property taxes would roil municipal financing in the state and harm metropolitan districts in particular, by boosting borrowing costs and sparking litigation, according to bond dealers and attorneys. Initiative 50, a proposed constitutional amendment that requires a 55% majority vote for passage, would

The Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA) passed by Congress in December 2022 mandated the use of a common, non-proprietary legal entity identifier for municipal issuers. Although Congress’ legislative intent continues to be a matter of debate, we argue that any implementation of this new mandate will have to satisfy a basic market need: the correct

The Wayne State University Board of Governors will return to market with $31.8 million of Series 2024A general revenue refunding bonds. Proceeds of the deal, scheduled to price Aug. 21, will be used to refund a portion of the Detroit-based school’s outstanding Series 2015A general revenue and refunding bonds.  The new deal arrives with Wayne

Dallas Fort Worth International Airport will head to the municipal bond market next week with a $750 million deal boosted by a rating upgrade and an outlook revision to positive. S&P Global Ratings raised its rating to AA-minus from A-plus, citing the airport’s “relatively” strong enplanements, history of financial resiliency, and stable debt service coverage. The

Municipal yields fell Tuesday as the primary kicked into gear, while munis underperformed an improved U.S. Treasury market as equities rallied after inflation data came in softer than expected. Triple-A municipal curves saw bumps of two to four basis points with the better performance on the short end while Treasuries improved by four to eight

Seven months after the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the listing and trading of several spot bitcoin exchange-traded product shares, a number of Midwest public pension funds are dabbling in cryptocurrency and crypto company investments. The State of Wisconsin Investment Board, which manages the assets of the Wisconsin Retirement System, recently invested roughly $188 million

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and the state of Missouri laid out their arguments in court Tuesday in a lawsuit over the state’s year-old environmental, social and governance investment rules.   Judge Stephen Bough of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri peppered the parties with questions, often based on his