State Treasurer's Office adopts three bond-sale resolutions for capital, transportation and taxable funding

The Office of the State Treasurer on Feb. 10 adopted three resolutions approving the sale of general obligation bonds intended to finance K–12 school renewal, higher-education facilities, affordable housing, water and flood protection, transportation projects and other capital needs.

Deputy Treasurer Jason Richter presented the three bond series to the meeting and recommended approval. He said the first sale, Resolution 13 o 6, awards $773,580,000 of various-purpose general obligation bonds (Series 2026C) for capital-budget projects. "Bank of America will pick up this transaction with an aggregate true interest cost of 4.16," Richter said, calling the result "a good showing" and noting interest costs were roughly similar to this time last year.

Richter said the second sale, Resolution 13 o 7, awards $297,960,000 of motor-vehicle fuel tax and vehicle-fee general obligation bonds (Series 2026D) to fund projects in the Move Ahead Washington and Connecting Washington programs; he reported a borrowing cost of 4.02% on that sale.

The third sale, Resolution 13 o 8, covers a taxable general obligation series (Series 2026T2). The transcript lists this series at about $220,000,000 and Richter described the taxable offering as larger than recent taxable issues, with a borrowing cost "just under 4%." He said JPMorgan submitted a strong bid and Raymond James appeared among bidders for the first time in a while.

Municipal advisors who participated in the live meeting characterized the market as active and competitive for the state's sales. Rob Shelley of Piper Sandler and Sean Rye (Montegutta/Montegutta DeRose) said investor demand and tight spreads produced aggressive bids across the three transactions, and Rye highlighted that the timing coincided with a U.S. Treasury rally that helped market reception.

The Treasurer (name not provided in the transcript) moved to adopt each resolution after Richter's recommendation; the transcript records that each resolution was adopted during the meeting. No roll-call votes, mover/second names or formal vote tallies were recorded in the transcript, and no members of the public asked to speak during the public-comment period.

The meeting closed with the Treasurer thanking staff and outside partners for their work on the transactions and adjourned at 12:19 p.m. The proceeds from the sales were described as supporting water supply, affordable housing, broadband, clean energy and transportation projects across the state.