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Governor’s Initiative to Protect New York's Lakes from HABs

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced a $65 million initiative to aggressively combat harmful algal blooms (HABs) in Upstate New York. Twelve priority lakes that are vulnerable to HABs and are critical sources of drinking water and vital tourism drivers were chosen as priority waterbodies because they represent a wide range of conditions and vulnerabilities and the lessons learned will be applied to other impacted waterbodies moving forward.

Tax Reform Update

 Both the House and Senate tax reform proposals repeal advance refunding bonds after 2017.  Public water and sewer utilities issued about $45 billion in advance refunding bonds from 2012 to 2016.  According to some bond writers’ groups, if advance refunding bonds are repealed, “municipal bond issuers would be challenged to manage interest rate risks and the cost of borrowing for state and local governments would skyrocket,” and would “likely drive many issuers into the swaps and