Lanza leaving SEC; Colorado expands P3 eligibility

Ernesto Lanza, SEC attorney-advisor and acting director for the Office of Municipal Securities, announced he will leave the commission to rejoin Ballard Spahr as of counsel to the firm’s national finance department and public finance group. Lanza will bring his almost 30 years of legal experience in the municipal market in advising his broker-dealer, municipal advisor, investor and other industry vendor clients on issues such as Dodd-Frank requirements and dealing with regulatory agencies.

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A Colorado law will for the first time give state agencies the ability to enter into public private partnerships, while a bill pending in Illinois would extend the authority to state agencies and all local governments. The Colorado law features a broad statute for P3 authority, with advocates like Gov. Jared Polis saying they hope the method will be used to finance “foundational” state needs like broadband access, affordable housing and childcare.

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority is debuting a new sales tax-backed credit as it prices $700 million of "capital lockbox" city sales tax revenue bonds. Goldman Sachs & Co. is lead underwriter on the deal, which was offered to retail investors Wednesday via the Triborough Bridge and Tunnels Authority. The bonds nabbed a AAA from Fitch Ratings and a AA-plus from S&P Global Ratings.

Nashville is negotiating with the National Football League’s Tennessee Titans about building a stadium that would be partly financed with municipal bonds but would lower costs to taxpayers who would be relieved of the burden of paying maintenance costs. A new stadium would help taxpayers by eliminating a covenant signed by the city in the 1990s when Nissan Stadium was first built that requires the city to pay the team for renovations and upkeep and maintenance, funds that come straight out of its general fund coffers, which could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars going forward.

Municipals rallied Wednesday, ignoring a selloff in U.S. Treasuries, after the Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes reiterated the Fed's position it would raise rates 50 to 75 basis points at its July meeting to stave off inflation. Equities ended slightly up. Municipals were in their own lane Wednesday and triple-A yields fell four to 10 basis points, depending on the scale, while the two-, three-, five- and seven-year USTs rose above the 10-year.