Today CDFA is proud to announce the release of the CDFA Conduit Bond Fee Study! This paper focuses on original data collected by CDFA from conduit bond issuers all over the country and provides a detailed breakdown of their various fee structures. CDFA produced the CDFA Conduit Bond Fee Study to share innovation and best practices throughout the bond industry.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to House Transportation Committee Chairman DeFazio and Ranking Member Graves signaling its support for H.R. 3779, the Resilience Revolving Loan Fund Act of 2019.

With partisanship at a fever pitch, one area of agreement between both parties on Capitol Hill and with President Trump has been the need to address the increasingly fragile state of the nation's infrastructure.

The fee would allow hotels in the Virgin Islands to add 7.5 percent to their hotel occupancy tax, and to utilize three different tiers according to the developmental phase of the project. Developers would be able to use the money as leverage in order to receive financing or as leverage to recoup some of their original investment.

United States Congresswoman Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released a proposal for a forthcoming bill, the Honoring Promises to Native Nations Act. The legislation will address chronic underfunding and barriers to sovereignty in Indian Country.

Tax breaks for short-line railroads and energy-efficient commercial buildings should be among the provisions made permanent, a bipartisan group of Senate Finance Committee lawmakers said in a report released August 13th.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has introduced legislation to improve access to the Department of Energy's Section 1703 loan guarantee program. The bill would allow certain state financing entities to be fully eligible for the program, providing a new pathway for states to secure financing for projects that will reduce energy costs and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

The bailouts were designed to help farmers who were already weathering low prices on commodities such as soybeans before Trump's trade wars sunk prices even lower. The administration has so far mailed checks totaling about $8.6 billion to U.S. farmers to help make up for lower market prices of 2018 crops.

HUD is awarding $75 million to end youth homelessness in 23 local communities across the country, including 8 rural areas. HUD's Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) will help these communities to build local systems and will support a wide range of housing programs including rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, and host homes.

The U.S. SBA granted 24 awards up to $125,000 per recipient in FY 2019 under its Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program. FAST's objective is to improve outcomes for underrepresented entrepreneurs in SBA's SBIR and STTR Programs and increase participation for women-owned, rural-based, and socially and economically disadvantaged firms.

Proponents of a new Hudson River tunnel are hoping an updated plan lowering costs by $1.4 billion will be enough to obtain federal funding for the Gateway project that was blocked after the Trump administration took office in 2017. A revised application submitted to the Federal Transit Administration cuts the price tag for a new rail tunnel to $11.3 billion from $12.7 billion.

USDA's Rural Business-Cooperative Service announced that it is awarding grants for projects in all states and Puerto Rico to reduce energy costs for farmers, ag producers, and rural-based businesses and institutions. USDA is investing $9.3 million through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects across the nation.

This final rule exempts Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments from the requirement to obtain a bond, insurance, or alternative form of security for a right-of-way across Indian land and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) land where such governments are prohibited by law from obtaining security.

In CBO's projections, federal budget deficits remain large by historical standards, and federal debt grows to equal 95 percent of GDP by 2029. Economic growth is expected to slow from 2.3 percent in 2019 to a rate that is below its long-run historical average.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's (USDOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program. The NOFO includes more than $244 million in grant funding.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it anticipates awarding three Gulf of Mexico Division cooperative agreements totaling more than $3.2 million to fund projects that improve water quality, habitat, and environmental education in Mississippi and Florida.

The U.S. EDA has published a Disaster Supplemental Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) making $587 million available to eligible grantees in communities impacted by Presidentially declared natural disasters in 2018, and floods and tornadoes in 2019.

The White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council members have identified over 160 Federal programs where targeting, preference, or additional support could be granted to Opportunity Zones. The Council has already taken action on over 130 grants or programs.

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Better Buildings Initiative recently released the Clean Energy for Low-Income Communities (CELICA) Toolkit, which provides materials to help program administrators reduce energy burden for low-income communities by enhancing and expanding upon work funded through utility, state, or federal programs.

Officials from the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council toured Lafayette as part of a visit organized with the Acadiana Planning Commission. The group toured parts of the seven census tracks, home to some 29,000 people in Lafayette, that have been designated as Opportunity Zones.