Kansas bill would fund tender offer for pension bonds sold in 2021

Less than two years after selling $504.5 million of taxable pension bonds, Kansas is considering buying back a chunk of the debt from bondholders using surplus revenue. House Bill 2102 would appropriate $250 million for the state treasurer to repurchase $300 million of term bonds due in 2051 through a tender offer.?

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The nearly depleted triple-A-rated school bond guarantee program in Texas will get a huge capacity increase after the state board of education lowered the amount set aside for a reserve. The reduction in the Permanent School Fund program's reserves to 0.25% from 5%, combined with the maturity of some debt it guaranteed, will increase the availability of the guarantee by $7 billion to $9 billion, according to the fund.

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The tax revamp in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would become permanent under a bill with heavy Republican support introduced Monday. Florida Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan, vice-chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, on Monday re-introduced the TCJA Permanency Act, which he originally filed last September during the Democratic-controlled 117th Congress.

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Southwest issuers sold $82.2 billion of municipal debt last year, a 10.5% tumble from 2021 that was the smallest decrease among regions and well below the 19.5% plunge nationwide. In Texas, which accounted for the lion's share of the Southwest's issuance, laws restricting access to government contracts shook up underwriter rankings as some big investment banks became less active or left that state's municipal market.

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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has signed legislation cementing a Cook County Forest Preserve District pension funding overhaul that rescues the fund from looming insolvency. Voters made the pension rescue bill possible by passing a measure in November allowing the district to raise its property tax levy?

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Total 2022 municipal bond sale volume plunged 19.5% from 2021, as issuers were flush with cash and rising interest rates stymied refundings and taxable issuances. Continued market volatility, inflation hitting four-decade highs, and uncertainty over the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy decisions kept issuers on the sidelines.

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