The legislative outlook for the tax treatment of municipal bonds is brighter in 2019 than a year ago with a strong supporter of municipal bonds ascending to the chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee as part of the new Democratic majority. Rep. Richard Neal begins serving with a pledge to ask municipal market advocates to testify on the impact of the TCJA.

In a recent press release, the USDA highlighted their 2018 work that assisted rural communities in building prosperity and contributing to America's economy. That work included investing in new and improved broadband, modernized rural electric infrastructure, new and improved water and wastewater infrastructure, and new roads and ports.

City officials from Seymour, IN have approved the establishment of a tax increment financing district to finance a marketing project for the city's Opportunity Zone. The Zone is a 1,500-acre census tract that encompasses the area where Silgan Plastics is located on the city's far south side all the way north to the CSX rail line near Cummins Seymour Engine Plant.

In 2018, a proposed House bill would have cleared the way for pensions to buy municipal assets, such as water and sewer authorities. The idea has advantages for pensions and is likely to be attractive to governments with major pension funding issues. With infrastructure likely to be a top priority in the new Congress, similar ideas may gain traction in 2019.

The Final TEFRA Regulations put into final, effective form the proposed TEFRA regulations that were issued on September 28, 2017. The Final TEFRA Regulations apply to qualified private activity bonds issued pursuant to a public approval given on or after April 1, 2019. 

Governor Rick Snyder has signed two bills that will provide more than $2 million to two of Battle Creek's tax increment financing authorities for the next 15 years. Senate Bills 1222 and 1223 will modify the formulas used to calculate how the authorities are reimbursed for personal property tax exemptions. The bills only affect three TIF authorities.

With a sharp uptick in Chinese applications for the visa program known as EB-5, waiting times for applicants to obtain U.S. residency have tripled to as long as 15 years. But the program has no clear guidelines about what happens to the investments during that time, creating more risk.

The Tampa Bay Rays say the baseball team's deal for a new stadium near downtown Tampa is dead. The Rays abruptly rejected the framework for funding a new $900 million ballpark in Tampa's Ybor City neighborhood near downtown, saying that financing and other details weren't thorough enough with the clock running out on the deadline to make a decision.

Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service took two-long awaited regulatory steps important to the municipal market on New Year's Eve with publication of a finalized public notice requirement for issuing private activity bonds and a proposed regulation clarifying when tax-exempt bonds require re-issuance.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was enacted one year ago this month, and we'll spend some time looking back what we've learned in that time. Our panel will explore the preservation of Private Activity Bonds, changes in the corporate tax rate and its effects, evaluate volume and the types of bonds most often used, and consider the effects of the elimination of advance refundings. We'll discuss options that issuers have for more flexible redemption options and strategies that have emerged to work around the absence of refundings. This webinar will feature the pros and cons and the questions that still remain twelve months into the new tax law.

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