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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently announced its decision in the case of Kuren, et al. v. Luzerne County, et al., 57 MAP 2015 and 58 MAP 2015, finding that indigent defendants can be “constructively” denied counsel where underfunding of the Public Defender’s Office creates “widespread, systematic deficiencies” that “deprive indigent defendants of the traditional…

In the first federal jury trial against a municipality for securities law violations, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on September 14, 2016 successfully obtained a verdict against the City of Miami and a former city official for violations of various anti-fraud provisions of  US securities laws.  The SEC is seeking injunctive relief and…

The Internal Revenue Service, in Revenue Procedure 2016-44, has loosened the restrictions on safe harbors for management contracts entered into by governmental issuers of tax-exempt bonds in connection with facilities financed by such bonds. The revenue procedure, which will be published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin on September 6, 2016, is a welcome development for…

The SEC announced today enforcement actions against 71 municipal issuers of bonds in connection with the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation (MCDC) Initiative.  The enforcement actions follow previous announcements from the agency, charging 72 municipal underwriting firms with similar violations discovered through voluntary reporting under MCDC.

The MCDC Initiative was announced by the SEC in…

The Borough of New Cumberland recently signed an agreement to sell its sewer system to Pennsylvania American Water.

The deal is reportedly for $23 million.  Per The Patriot News:

The sale will eliminate $16 million in debt the borough has. Pa. American Water also agreed to invest $2 million in wastewater and other

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The Pennsylvania 2015-2016 Budget Impasse may be (technically) over, but it just claimed another victim.  From The Bond Buyer:

Standard & Poor’s has discontinued its underlying rating for credit enhancement programs on rated Pennsylvania school districts.

S&P announced the policy change Tuesday afternoon as an additional step to its December withdrawal of ratings based

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Large privately held, publicly regulated utility companies with a focus on rapid growth and expansion throughout the Commonwealth have a new target – municipally owned water and wastewater systems.  Pennsylvania legislation over the last few years has provided considerable financial and regulatory incentives for this unprecedented growth. These companies are no longer waiting for municipalities…

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) recently published the agenda for the January 27-28, 2016 meeting of its Board of Directors.  Among the items noted for discussion is the following:

Bank Loans
The Board will discuss direct purchases of municipal securities by financial institutions and bank loans to municipal entities to consider whether the MSRB

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As 2015 winds down and we prepare to welcome 2016, many smaller municipalities, municipal authorities, and other public entities may be putting the final touches on last-minute financings, or preparing for new financings in early 2016. In many of these issuances, the term “bank-qualified” will be used.

For such issuers, bank qualification is a means…