CDFA has submitted tax policy recommendations to the Senate Finance Committee as the SFC takes its initial steps toward comprehensive tax reform. The submission comes following a request from SFC Chairman Orrin Hatch for advice and suggestions on ways to improve the tax code from tax policy stakeholders.

This year, many of the nation's first federally-designated Economic Development Districts (EDDs) are turning 50! The EDA highlights a few examples of numerous successes EDDs have accomplished through the years.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved transportation and housing spending for fiscal 2018 that includes $45 billion of federal highway funding to states, $550 million for the TIGER grant program, and $3 billion for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.

The Brownfields Reauthorization Act, authored by Reps. Katko (R-NY) and Esty (D-CT) is on its way to a House of Representatives floor vote. The bill reauthorizes the Brownfields Program through 2022 at $200 million/year, with an additional $50 million annually to states for their brownfields cleanup programs.

Rep. Luke Messer (R-IN) is shepherding a bill through the House that would revise current regulations to encourage financial institutions to work with municipalities to make infrastructure improvements more affordable.

The Municipal Bonds for America coalition, of which CDFA is a member, submitted recommendations to Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch following Hatch's request for expert and stakeholder input on tax reform.

The House Appropriations Transportation-HUD Subcommittee released its $56.5 billion FY 2018 spending bill July 10 . For HUD, the bill provides net appropriations of $38.3 billion, $487 million (1.3 percent) less than FY 2017. The bill provides $2.9 billion for CDBG and $850 million for HOME.

Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI 5th District) has announced that he is starting a new congressional forum to rethink how national policymakers invest in cities. The initiative, titled "The Future of America's Cities and Towns," will include policy discussions with local, state and federal elected officials to focus on the challenges facing older, industrial communities.

Advocates of removing state volume caps for tax exempt private activity bonds used to finance water and sewer projects have once again reintroduced bipartisan legislation in the House.

The New Markets Tax Credit Coalition released a report detailing an unprecedented level of private investment in rural communities around the United States. The NMTC has helped rural communities increase healthcare access, financing 107 rural healthcare facilities or clinics, totaling nearly $800 million in project costs between 2003 and 2014.

A 12-story, 347-room hotel, in Renton, WA was built and financed with money invested through the EB-5 immigrant investor program. The new hotel created 175 jobs for local employees.

The US EPA is s inviting 12 projects in nine states to apply for Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loans.This year's projects will leverage more than $1 billion in private capital and other funding sources to help finance a total of $5.1 billion in water infrastructure investments.  

Authors Sam Barend and Mary Peters provide several arguments in defense of using public-private partnerships to support both urban and rural infrastructure projects.

According to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, the DOT could begin accepting applications by the end of July for the $500 million of TIGER grants authorized in the omnibus budget measure for fiscal 2017. 

The Treasury released Notice 2017-38, which acknowledged the proposed regulations that would re-define the term "political subdivision" for issuance of tax-exempt bonds as one of eight unduly burdensome regulatory projects and should be reconsidered for modification or repeal.

The Trump Administration has reconfigured and renamed a $4.5 billion discretionary grant program dedicated to freight-related transportation infrastructure to put more emphasis on projects that can leverage additional state, local, or private financing.