AHA-supported bill would help finance local infrastructure projects

Reps. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., and Tom Reed, R-N.Y., yesterday introduced the Municipal Bond Market Support Act of 2019, bipartisan legislation to help local governments, hospitals, non-profits and other entities reduce costs associated with infrastructure and development projects. The AHA-supported legislation would increase the annual limit for municipal bank qualified bond borrowing from $10 million to $30 million per borrower and index this level to inflation going forward. The legislation also applies the bank qualified debt limit on a borrower-by-borrower basis, rather than aggregating all bank qualified bonds issued by a conduit issuer, so that hospitals, schools and other community organizations can more easily access capital.