The Muni Lowdown

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Greg Clark, head of research, about trends and updates for lower-rated nonprofit hospitals.

The podcast begins with Greg providing an overview of the surveillance project he initiated last year on nonprofit hospitals and hospital systems. The impetus was the financial problems brought on by the pandemic.

Greg then discusses the methodology behind the hospitals chosen for surveillance and why a quarterly review is done.

Greg highlights each hospital has been placed into one of three categories: declining credit strength, improving or stable.

To close the podcast, Greg provides examples from each category.

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with a journalist on the team, Kunal Kamal, about coronavirus spending by states and localities.

The podcast begins with Kunal providing an overview of the spending of coronavirus state and local fiscal recovery funds.

Kunal then discusses the distinctions between how much funding has been obligated vs. the amount spent. He notes that states and localities have until 31 December 2024 to obligate funds and must be spent by 31 December 2026.

Kunal moves the discussion towards the seven spending categories identified by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and focuses on the two largest ones, revenue replacement and negative economic impacts.

To close the podcast, Kunal discusses GAO findings around compliance and reporting of state and local fiscal recovery funds.

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks to Morgan Zabow, Community Heat and Health Information Coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration about extreme heat.

The podcast begins with Morgan explaining her job and the Urban Heat Island mapping campaign.

Morgan goes on to explain the role of citizen science volunteers and project implications.

Morgan proceeds to discuss an overview of potential municipal costs and local economy resulting from extreme heat. She then drills down on impacts to vulnerable communities.

Morgan discusses the meaning of the term “tree canopy” and its importance as a key climate and mitigation strategy.

Morgan then turns to conversation to explaining a “one size fits all” approach is not effective. Different regions of the country may have unique strategies for combating extreme heat.

Morgan concludes the podcast by discussing the most surprising results from the mapping campaign.

#ESG #extremeheat #muniland

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks to a journalist on the team, Kunal Kamal, about the effects climate and weather risk on the municipal market.

The podcast begins with Paul providing an overview of climate and weather risk in the United States.

Kunal then discusses on climate change is affecting municipalities across the country including the physical impact, economic ramifications, resource management challenges, population migration and regulatory pressures

To close the podcast, Kunal discusses the implications of climate and weather risk on municipal bonds in areas such as credit rating vulnerability, risk pricing, market volatility, insurance and liability, as well as investor perception.

#ESG #muniland #infrastructure

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Debtwire North America Analyst John Sinna, about the future of Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.

The podcast begins with a recounting of the Maui wildfire in August and the resulting fallout for Hawaiian Electric (HE) which includes a congressional House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing scheduled for September 28 with utility and Hawaii regulatory officials.

John’s moves on to discuss HE's business and their unique situation of owning a bank (American Savings Bank, F.S.B.).

The conversation shifts to a discussion of the potential financial damages that HE faces.

John provides a comparison of Pacific Gas & Electric to HE.

John goes on to discuss how owning a bank makes the situation for HE more complicated.

Finally, John provides his view on the potential scenarios that could play out for HE.

#wildfire #catastrophicrisk #muniland

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Chuck Stanley of Infralogic discusses the status of electric vehicles (EVs) and its charging infrastructure for states, local government entities and nonprofits.

To kick off the podcast, Chuck provides an overview of federal electric vehicle incentives and its importance to state and local governments.

The conversation turns to a breakdown of federal EV charging infrastructure funding for states (USD 5n) and community level EV deployment (USD 2.5bn). The dialogue moves to the time required to build an EV charging station and the areas of the country seeing the fastest growth.

The conversation shifts to a breakdown of federal fleet electrification funding for mass transit buses (USD 5.6bn) and school buses (USD 5bn).

The discussion moves to the tax credits provided under the Inflation Reduction Act to incentivize nonprofits, government agencies and consumers to purchase EVs.

Chuck concludes the podcast the discuss the potential for cybersecurity risks.

Chuck Stanley is a senior policy reporter covering the renewable energy transition for Infralogic.

Paul Greaves serves as the moderator and is the managing editor for Debtwire Municipals.

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with one of the team’s journalists, Deb Pace, to discuss water issues in the Southwest focusing on Texas, Arizona, and Nevada.

Deb begins the podcast by discussing the efforts of the Texas Water Development Board, their recently released water report that showed that 31% of Texas is under drought conditions, and nearly 40% of the state is vulnerable to drought soon. Deb turns her attention to the agreement reached in the Texas legislature to allocate USD 1bn toward addressing the state's water challenges and highlights a few of the projects funded.

The conversation then turns to Arizona and specifically how the state has stopped approving development projects in Phoenix over water concerns. There are also projects highlighted that are benefiting from federal funding. The discussion swings to the USD 1bn in funding over three years to the state’s Water Infrastructure Financing Authority to help boost water supply through alternative water projects.

The dialogue moves toward Nevada, with Deb discussing its mitigation efforts. Specifically, a state law signed allowing the Southern Nevada Water Authority to limit residential water use during a declared federal emergency water shortage through flow-limiting devices. Deb then highlights pipeline construction efforts in the state. The podcast concludes with the latest plans for the Las Vegas Valley Water District.

As a reporter for Debtwire Municipals, Deb Pace covers transportation, utilities, and tax-backed credits in the State of Illinois.

#water #drought #conservation #muniland

Debtwire Municipals' Head of Research Greg Clark interviews Jeffrey J. Previdi, vice chair of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), discussing organization efforts on monitoring projects and standard setting agenda items.

Jeff starts out the podcast by discussing “monitoring projects that GASB has undertaken that include: the Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA), ESG [environmental, social, governance] and digital assets.

Jeff goes on to explain the complexity in implementing FDTA requirements as it relates to taxonomy and maintaining it over time. He also specifically dives into the challenges that will be faced in creating legal entity identifiers for municipal credits.

The conversation then turns to standard setting agenda items (going concern opinions, risk disclosures and infrastructure asset accounting).

Jeff highlights how going concern opinions have a different meaning in the public vs private sectors. He also discusses a recurring issue when governments cease to exist due to a merger and whether a going concern disclosure is necessary under those circumstances.

The podcast concludes with Jeff discussing the impetus behind risk disclosures and accounting for infrastructure assets becoming standard setting agenda items.

Jeff began serving as a GASB member on July 1, 2016, was appointed to serve as vice chair of GASB effective July 1, 2017, and was reappointed to a second term that concludes on June 30, 2026. Previously, Jeff served in a variety of roles for more than two decades at Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (now S&P Global Ratings).

Greg Clark is a municipal analyst with more than four decades of experience at a rating agency, broker-dealers, commercial banks, bond insurers, and a hedge fund. He is also a former chairman of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts and of the Municipal Analysts Group of New York.

#GASB #FDTA #XBRL #muniland #accounting

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Javier Balmaceda of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) discusses with our team his perspective on Puerto Rico’s ongoing eight-year restructuring effort.

To kick off the podcast, Javier provides his personal and professional background and its relevance to his current role at CBPP and in understanding Puerto Rico’s economic and financial situation.

The conversation turns to a discussion amongst the podcast participants (Paul Greaves, moderator and managing editor of Debtwire Municipals; Greg Clark, head of muni research; and Simone Baribeau, reporter on the team) about whether the debt restructuring, and debt reduction efforts has been sufficient to position the island for long-term success.

Javier responds that current efforts have been insufficient because the pre-restructuring assessment of the commonwealth’s economy was inadequate as it had always been weak and the safety net for island residents’ pales to what is provided to mainland states. He then adds the exogenous shocks of catastrophic weather events and COVID-19 exacerbated matters.

The dialogue turns to providing some bondholder perspective, as evidenced through their recent court filings.

Javier then moves the conversation to the developments he found the most surprising in the island’s restructuring.

Javier concludes with his recommendations for a sustainable fiscal and economic path.

Javier Balmaceda is a senior policy analyst with CBPP’s federal fiscal policy team. His main area of focus is Puerto Rico, with a particular eye on federal initiatives to resolve the commonwealth’s fiscal and economic challenges.

Paul Greaves, who serves as the moderator and is the managing editor for Debtwire Municipals; Greg Clark, the head of muni research who brings over 40 years of municipal analyst expertise; and Simone Baribeau, reporter on the team who covers the Puerto Rico, healthcare and project finance beats.

#PuertoRico #TitleIII #restructuring #municipalbankruptcy

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with reporters Sophia Clark and Simone Baribeau about the relatively new phenomenon of university-based retirement communities.

On this podcast, Simone discusses when university-based retirement communities became a viable option about 15 years ago and breaks down the leasing structure.

Sophia moves the discussion to operational considerations such as occupancy levels and the continuum of care provided. She then directs her comments towards the intersection of student housing and continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs).

Sophia provides context for the credit risks associated with student housing and Simone provides the same analysis for CCRCs.

Simone examines the potential rise of “on campus CCRCs” to create synergies.

Sophia and Simone close the podcast providing their views on whether university-based retirement communities will grow over time.

As reporters for Debtwire Municipals, Simone Baribeau covers Puerto Rico and healthcare beats, while Sophia Clark covers credits in the states of Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York.

#CCRCs #highered