News

Throughout the month of August, your congressional delegation typically puts business on hold in Washington D.C. and heads home. The “August recess” is designed to give members of Congress and their staff some time to reorient, so it’s one of the very best times for constituents to meet with their members of Congress. Your advocacy during this period of time means the most because it allows your senator and representative to come face-to-face with the impact of federal preemption legislation, especially because of the deep fiscal effects they have on localities within their districts.

On July 25, 2017, the House Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law held a hearing on H.R. 2887, the “No Regulation Without Representation Act of 2017.” The bill, sponsored by James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), was introduced in the 114th Congress and reintroduced for the 115th in June. GFOA and other national organizations have opposed the bill as a broad preemption of state and local government regulatory and tax authority. Click here to view GFOA’s comments for the record.

On July 11, 2017, Government Finance Officers Association’s (GFOA) Executive Director, Chris Morrill, will moderate a panel discussion with The Big Seven before Congress about state and local tax (SALT) deduction. This briefing will serve as a “101” to Congressional staff about how SALT is used in the states, counties, and cities and work to dispel the myth that this is singularly an itemized deduction for wealthy Americans.

Don’t confuse leadership with personality, warned best-selling author and leadership expert Jim Collins in an address to delegates at GFOA’s 111th Annual Conference on May 22, 2017. Charisma is a personality trait, and leadership is not about personality – so it’s OK if a leader has what Collins calls a “charisma bypass.” In fact, he suggested that might be for the best, and that organizations need to put aside the notion that charisma necessarily leads to success.

Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) announced the winner of its 2017 Awards for Excellence in Government Finance. GFOA’s most prestigious award recognizes contributions to the practice of government finance that exemplify outstanding financial management. The award stresses practical, documented work that offers leadership to the profession and promotes improved public finance.

Patrick J. McCoy, Director of Finance, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York, became president of Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) on May 23, 2017. The gavel was passed at the association’s annual business meeting in Denver, Colorado.

Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) has announced the recipients of its 2017 scholarships. GFOA’s mission is to enhance and promote the professional management of governments. Among the ways GFOA accomplishes its mission is through education, training, and leadership.

The recipients of the four awards for the Government Finance Professional Development Scholarship are Christopher Carlos, CPA, Michelle M. DeNeui, Tiffany Leigh Jacobs, and Robert D. Symanski. Each will receive $9,000. 

Government Finance Officers Association’s (GFOA) 111th Annual Conference will be held May 21─24, 2017, at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado. The keynote speakers will be Jim Collins, who will speak during the opening general session on leadership, along with a panel of experts,David Parkhurst, Paul Soglin, and Adam Atherly, who will discuss health-care cost containment at the state and local government level for the general session on Tuesday.

Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) has announced the recipients of its 2017 scholarships. GFOA’s mission is to enhance and promote the professional management of governments. Among the ways GFOA accomplishes its mission is through education, training, and leadership.

The recipients of the two awards for the Frank L. Greathouse Government Accounting Scholarship are Hannah F. Chu and Magali Moralez. Each will receive $9,000. 

Government Finance Officers Association’s (GFOA) latest guide, Best Practices in School Budgeting, provides a comprehensive budget process framework that emphasizes academic and finance collaboration to best align resources for desired student outcomes. The framework represents the culmination of a multi-year effort led by GFOA, with input from numerous school district officials and other experts in education finance, to develop guidelines for better budgeting, tailored specifically for school districts.

On May 15, 2017, GFOA filed comments in response to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed amendments to Rule 15c2-12. The letter reiterates that while GFOA promotes transparency in the market and actively supports activities to ensure that investors have appropriate information about municipal securities, GFOA has significant concerns with the SEC’s proposal.

Establishing the issue price of a tax-exempt bond is important to issuers of tax-exempt debt as it: 1) determines the arbitrage yield restriction for rebate compliance purposes; and 2) determines the maximum allowable escrow yield for advance refunding bonds.