More than 20 public issuer organizations from the Public Finance Network (PFN) sent comments earlier this month in regards to a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on the future of U.S. infrastructure.
The organizations include state and local governments as well as other tax-exempt bond issuers, borrowers and municipal market professionals. These organizations rely on federal funding for their projects.
The PFN said that several billion dollars will need to be invested to fix the nation’s infrastructure. The organization listed six steps the federal government can implement to help communities with their infrastructure decisions.
These steps include increasing the bank qualified limit from $10 million to $30 million for small issuers and borrowers, and have it apply at the borrower level; allowing additional bond programs to enhance infrastructure funding; ending the current sequestration of Build America Bonds and ensure future direct pay bonds are not adversely impacted by sequestration; reinstating the ability for governments and other qualifying entities to advance refund tax-exempt municipal bonds; making technical changes to the tax code that will facilitate the issuance of tax-exempt bonds; and maintaining the tax-exemption for all municipal securities.
When the federal government has issued tax-exempt debt, state and local governments have saved billions of dollars, the comments said.
The PFN urged Congress to maintain the tax exemption on municipal bonds and improve ways to utilize the laws related to municipal bonds.
PFN members include the Government Finance Officers Association, the National League of Cities, the National Association of Towns and Townships, the National Association of Counties, the National Association of Municipal Advisors and the International Municipal Lawyers Association.
The hearing, called Our Nation’s Crumbling Infrastructure And The Need For Immediate Action, was held March 6. Witnesses included Chris Spear, president and CEO of American Trucking Associations, and Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO.