On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves and Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani speak with Karel Citroen, managing director of municipal research at Conning about state credit quality.

Karel starts with an overview of the report methodology.

The discussion then shifts to the fiscal resilience of states and whether potential federal funding shifts could increase credit risk. The conversation segues into Karel discussing the states that could face pronounced challenges if federal funding is reduced.

Karel provides the rationale behind the inclusion of two new metrics: cost of living index and catastrophe losses per capita.

The discussion moves towards a discussion of the coastal and wildfire-prone states that face a disproportionate financial burden due to physical climate risk.

Karel provides his perspective on the decision by the federal government to cease maintaining the billion-dollar disaster database.

The conversation continues with the factors behind the population growth in the Northeast.

The podcast concludes with Karel detailing the key factors to understanding tax revenue and income levels.

#stateofthestates #creditquality #costofliving #physicalclimaterisk #muniland

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Jennifer Johnston, Director of Municipal Bond Research at Franklin Templeton about the outlook for higher education.

Jennifer starts the podcast with an overview on the importance of governance and management team and how a key person vacancy, like the president, can impact credit.

The discussion shifts to an acknowledgment that federal pressures are hitting different schools in different ways and how does a school continue to attract and retain quality students while balancing their budget.

Jennifer shares her thoughts on whether the outcome of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act signals an end to the muni tax exemption removal threat.

Jennifer provides her thoughts on the importance of flexibility in navigating the uncertain environment faced by higher ed institutions.

The conversation moves to highlighting factors that could impact enrollment.

Jennifer discusses the fundraising environment moving forward.

Jennifer shares thoughts on whether we’ll see students gravitate towards universities abroad.

The podcast closes with Jennifer discussing what universities can do to grapple with high borrowing costs or reduced investment earnings due to endowment taxes.

#higher education #enrollment #federalpolicy #endowmenttaxes #muniland #municipalmarket

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves and Reporter Kunal Kamal speak with Dora Lee, Director of Research at Belle Haven Investments about the outlook for the municipal market.

Dora starts the podcast with an overview of Belle Haven’s investment strategy during this current period of uncertainty in the municipal market.

The discussion shifts to Dora examining the likelihood of the capping or elimination of the muni tax exemption.

Dora then segues into ongoing federal policy shifts and the potential consequences.

Dora provides her thoughts on whether bond pricing is fully capturing burgeoning risks such as cybersecurity and climate change.

The podcast closes with Dora providing her views on the adequacy of disclosure by municipal issuers.

#federalpolicy #tariffs #climaterisk #muniland #bondpricing #municipalmarket

On the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves and Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani speak with Jon Porter, senior vice president and chief meteorologist for AccuWeather about building infrastructure climate resilience.

Jon discusses the narrowing time gap between billion-dollar disasters historically compared to now. Additionally, Jon provides some comments on storms happening outside of when they’re expected.

The conversation shifts to Jon highlighting that storms have always had landfall inland but that there’s much more media coverage.

Jon segues into relaying his perspective on the unique nature of every storm.

Jon focuses his next comments on the important role of utilities and why they can’t afford to be down for any extended period. Jon uses this opportunity to highlight the best practices that utilities can employ.

The podcast closes with Jon discussing his thoughts on building climate resilience through strong communication between stakeholders. The goal being to leverage ongoing opportunities to increase and prioritize resilience efforts.

#climaterisk #climateresilience #weather #infrastructure #meteorology

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves talks with the Head of Securitized Products Research and Strategy at Academy Securities, Dr. Stav Gaon, about stadium securitizations.

Debtwire ABS Editorial Director Eric Homer and Reporter Kunal Kamal also join the podcast.

Dr. Gaon provides an overview of asset-backed securities (ABS) and how they typically work.

The discussion shifts to Dr. Gaon highlighting the growing interest in sports securitizations.

The dialogue segues into Dr. Gaon explaining how stadium financing is different than other types of asset-backed securitizations.

Dr. Gaon follows with a comparison of stadium securitization to municipal bond financing for stadiums.

The conversation moves to Dr. Gaon outlining the risks involved with stadium securitization.

Dr. Gaon details the key players involved in a stadium securitization deal.

The podcast closes with Dr. Gaon discussing aspects of certain ongoing stadium securitization

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves and Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani speak with Cooper Howard, fixed income strategist at Charles Schwab about federal policy and the muni market.

Cooper provides his thoughts on the “question marks” surrounding federal policy initiatives on the municipal market such as tariffs.

The discussion shifts to Cooper highlighting municipal sectors most sensitive to federal policy shifts.

Cooper segues the discussion into the potential hurdles that private higher education may have to overcome.

The podcast closes with Cooper discussing what municipal credits may consider to maintain credit quality despite the numerous challenges.

#federalpolicy #tariffs #inflation #muniland #highereducation #ports

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves and Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani speak to Cybersecurity Content Specialist Bradley Barth about municipal bond issuers grappling with cyberattacks

Bradley provides his thoughts on whether in-house expertise is enough or if security programs necessitate collaboration with a third-party vendor.

The discussion shifts to Bradley highlighting the potential advantages/disadvantages to working with a third-party vendor.

Bradley then segues into whether an organization’s vulnerability is correlated with the size, sector or ability of the municipal bond issuer to afford cybersecurity expertise.

Bradley moves on to identify the different types of cyberattacks and whether victims should pay.

Bradley discloses “best practices” for a municipal bond issuer around incident response and the quality of public disclosures.

The podcast closes with Bradley discussing his thoughts on the potential efficacy of implementing a federal data breach law.

#cybersecurity #ransomware #databreaches #muniland #cyberattacks

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Debtwire North America Credit Analyst John Sinna on the latest developments with Hawaiian Electric and Edison International.

The podcast covers the situations in the aftermath of wildfires for Hawaiian Electric and Edison International by “comparing and contrasting” where things stand by delving into five (5) topics.

The first topic discussed is how governance has been handled in each situation. John discusses the actions taken by Hawaii Governor Josh Green and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

The second topic discusses legislative efforts in Hawaii and California.

The third topic details the litigation against Hawaiian Electric and Edison International because of the wildfire damages.

With the fourth topic, John segues into possible responses by the insurance market from a national perspective as well as specifically in Hawaii and California.

The podcast closes with John discussing his near-term expectations in each situation.

#insurance #power #IOUs #muniland #risk

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves and Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani speak with Senior Research Analyst Dr. Erika Smull of Breckinridge Capital Advisors on pricing climate risk.

Dr. Smull initiates the discussion by explaining the concept of “benchmark aware” in the context of municipal bond investment strategies.

The conversation shifts to the resiliency of the municipal market in the face of catastrophic weather events and the availability of quality information to make climate risk assessments.

Dr. Smull transitions to the role supply and credit quality, as well as whether private insurance and federal disaster aid will remain as readily available moving forward.

Dr. Smull discusses the current state of climate risk disclosure.

The discussion turns to an example of “climate induced stress” in detailing the events of Clyde, TX.

The podcast closes with Dr. Smull discussing whether the market is getting closer to a climate risk premium and how Breckinridge assesses climate risk.

#climaterisk #muniland #pricingrisk #riskpremium #catastrophicevents

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves and Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani speak with Andrew Flynn, managing director of California Municipal Advisors about the municipal market.

Andrew provides a brief overview of his role as a municipal advisor.

The discussion shifts to Andrew sharing his “tree analogy” that explains his financial advisory approach with public sector clients.

Andrew then segues into his view of muni market health now and what level of concern he has around the increasing frequency and intensity of climate risk events.

The conversation turns to Andrew’s perspective on the recent ratings actions by S&P Global Ratings with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

Andrew transitions into how he advises his public sector clients to contemplate and address pension fund liabilities.

The podcast closes with Andrew offering his contrarian perspective on challenges that “places of growth” (California, Texas, Nevada, Arizona, etc.) will face during an economic downturn.

#muniland #climaterisk #pensions #economy #municipaladvisors