What Is ESG? The term “ESG” stands for environmental, social, and governance principles. While individuals may understand what these letters represent, many people are looking to understand why ESG is relevant, what ESG means in practice, and how it can be incorporated into business practices to the advantage of the business. In the last several years, ESG has become a hot topic and, for many, is the new standard of excellence for businesses moving forward. These principles, at their core, provide a framework for businesses to measure the tangible impacts of these issues on their ope ..read more

The Inflation Reduction Act, Public Law 117-168 (the “Act”), was signed into law by President Joe Biden on August 16, 2022, but the impact of some of its provisions is just beginning to be felt. Among those are the substantial federal subsidies the Act provides for state and local government investments in clean energy projects. These subsidies are provided through a change in the rules for clean energy tax credits, which will allow state and local governments to take a direct payment in lieu of the tax credit. While the amount of the direct payment for a qualifying project will vary, there is ..read more

A bond issue (a debt obligation of a local government) is often perceived as a mystery for many Pennsylvania local government officials and solicitors. The securities and tax regulations governing municipal bonds have grown increasingly complex in recent years further adding to the challenge of understanding the path toward a successful bond issuance. In this guide, McNees’ experienced bond counsel lawyers break down the fundamentals including the key players and steps involved to empower stakeholders to navigate this financial undertaking with confidence. Read the full white paper here. McNee ..read more

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court recently issued a long-awaited opinion in a prevailing wage appeal brought by Ursinus College, captioned at Ursinus College v. Prevailing Wage Appeals Board, No. 828 C.D. 2021 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2022). The College was appealing a decision by the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Appeals Board (the “Board”) finding that the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act (the “Act”) applied to a construction project financed by the College (the “Project”), using municipal bonds issued by the Montgomery County Higher Education and Health Authority (the “Authority”). Read o ..read more

All attorneys representing municipal and other public sector clients should be aware of the potential for a United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation of their clients’ public bond deals.  Issuers generally will hire a team of professionals with specialized experience in public finance to assist them in completing a financing; such professionals commonly include bond counsel, disclosure counsel, and a municipal advisor.  But even the general practice solicitor that handles all day-to-day legal issues for the client will play an important role in the financin ..read more

Since September 2021, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) has brought five enforcement actions regarding municipal bond financings.  The issuers of these bonds are Sweetwater Union High School District (Texas); Crosby Independent School District (California); Town of Sterlington (Louisiana); City of Rochester (and its school district) (New York); and Johnson City (Texas).  In each case, the issuers and other involved parties were charged with providing false and misleading information to municipal bond investors.  Enforcement was not limited to entitie ..read more

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently charged two chief financial officers of school districts with misleading investors in municipal bond offerings.  This should be a warning to municipal CFOs to be very careful to make appropriate disclosures when involved in their public entities’ bond issues.  An SEC official recently stated that “the SEC is committed to holding bad actors in municipal securities offerings accountable for their misconduct.”  Don’t be the CFO bad actor that the SEC targets! Sweetwater (California).  The first situation involved Sweetwater ..read more

In December 2017, former President Donald Trump signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Among the many provisions of the Act was a provision that eliminated the tax exemption for municipal bonds that advance refunded another series of bonds. Prior to its passage, issuers had the ability to issue such bonds on a tax-exempt basis, and did so for a variety of reasons, including to achieve debt service savings. With the loss of tax-exempt status for advance refunding bonds issued after the passage of the Act, issuers and their advisors have searched for alternatives to the traditional tax-exemp ..read more

Timothy Horstmann, member of McNees Wallace & Nurick’s Public Finance and Government Services Group, will be discussing the importance of the archival and long-time preservation of electronic documents for Pennsylvania municipalities and townships in an upcoming webinar. The panel of thought leaders will share tips for how to become PDF/A compliant at little to no cost, important because a Pennsylvania State Archives and Local Government Records Committee policy allows municipalities to maintain electronic records so long as specific requirements are met. What: Pennsylvania State Associat ..read more

McNees Public Finance attorneys Timothy J. Horstmann and Ryan T. Gonder will present “Preparing for an Audit of ARPA Expenditures: What to Do Now,” at the  Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors annual conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania, this April. During this presentation, attendees will learn about the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and its historic allocation of approximately $350 Billion in state and local governmental aid in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Attendees will learn about the United States Department of the Treasury’s implementation of the Act throu ..read more