Massive barrier to protect the Texas coast awaits federal funding

In September 2008, a few days after Hurricane Ike devastated the island of Galveston and the Texas Gulf Coast, Texas A&M University Professor William Merrell had the idea for what was later dubbed the Ike Dike. "It turned out to be based on a lot of Dutch techniques, but we didn't know that at the time," Merrell said of his plan to create a system of barriers along the spine of the Texas coast to protect against storm surges. "We conceived of it as a way to protect the region by strengthening the coast." Nearly 16 years later, after a six-year, $20 million federal study, the Coastal Texas Program is poised to become the largest civil works infrastructure project undertaken to date by the US Army Corps of Engineers .

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Issuers are facing the worst environment for selling bonds in 50 years, panelists at this year's Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) MiniMuni Conference said, underscoring the importance of disclosure. "Rates have doubled and mutual funds have much less buying power than they did years ago," said Colin MacNaught , chief executive officer and co-founder of BondLink. "It's very important for finance officers to keep that in mind, in terms of context for why disclosure matters and why it's important.”

Nominations are due Friday, October 20, for The Bond Buyer’s 2023 Deal of the Year awards.?

Wisconsin ended fiscal 2023 on June 30 with record-high balances of $7.07 billion for its budget and $1.8 billion in its rainy day fund, the state announced Monday. General purpose revenue tax collections totaled almost $21 billion, up 2.1% from fiscal 2022, which ended with a nearly $4.3 billion budget balance, according to a 2023 annual fiscal report by the Wisconsin Department of Administration.

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Municipals were weaker Monday, rising in sympathy with U.S. Treasuries. Equities rallied. Triple-A benchmarks were cut up three to eight basis points, depending on the scale, while UST yields were up four to nine near the close. “The combination of higher yields and this week’s heavier new-issue calendar will attract attention from income-focused individual investors as well as from institutional investors who are underweight munis,” said CreditSights strategists Pat Luby and Sam Berzo.

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When interest rates were low, arbitrage was off the table for issuers. It’s now come back along with multiple strings of regulations attached by Congress as interpreted by the Internal Revenue Service.

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Republican Jeff Landry beat a slate of other hopefuls to become Louisiana's next governor, replacing Democrat John Bel Edwards, winning more than 50% in an open primary to avoid a runoff. Landry, who positioned himself as anti-ESG as the state state attorney general, will be sworn in as governor in January, taking over from Bel Edwards, who was term-limited out.

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