Jack Casey

The Supreme Court on Monday issued an opinion affirming that a local Puerto Rico debt restructuring law is unconstitutional, leaving congressional action on a House bill as the most viable option left for the struggling commonwealth to deal with its debt crisis.

U.S. banks' holdings of municipal bonds increased to $507.5 billion in the first quarter of 2016, a 1.7% gain from the $499 billion of holdings in the fourth quarter of 2015.

The full Senate is expected to take up the Puerto Rico bill passed by the House and vote on it before the end of the month or in early July.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to amend its Rule 15c2-12 on municipal bond disclosure and provide more guidance in this area.

A House bill designed to help Puerto Rico will now move to the Senate after House members passed the bill 297 to 127 during a session that stretched into early Thursday evening.

The full House is expected to vote today on a bill designed to help Puerto Rico after the House Rules Committee set the table for the bill's consideration during a lengthy hearing that stretched into Wednesday night.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Tex., plans to introduce an alternative to the Dodd-Frank Act that would, among other things, stop the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board from receiving some of the muni rule enforcement fines collected by regulators and repeal the Volcker Rule.

Lawyers with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe are concerned about a ruling by a federal appeals court last week that found a constitutional challenge to the Securities and Exchange Commission's use of administrative proceedings to impose penalties in enforcement cases could not move forward until the proceedings end.

Presidential candidate and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has vowed to introduce an alternative bill to one pending before the House that CBO says would cost the territory $370 million over ten years.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and Miami have each asked a federal judge in Florida to rule in their favor before a trial can be held over the SEC’s fraud charges against the city and a former city official.

Norton Rose Fulbright announced today that 18 members of Sidley Austin's public finance practice will be transferring to the firm as part of a change that includes opening a new San Francisco office.

Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Illinois are among the states with the worst fiscal health and provide examples of problematic strains on state and local finances, according to researchers from George Mason University’s Mercatus Center.

Municipal advisor professionals who have not already passed the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s pilot qualification exam will have one year from Sept. 12 to pass the permanent exam, the self-regulator announced on Tuesday.

Muni market groups are resoundingly saying "no" to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's question of whether it should require municipal advisors to disclose information about their issuer clients' bank loans or privately placed municipal securities.

Dealer groups are asking the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board for more flexibility with exceptions to its rule preventing dealers from buying or selling bonds below issuers’ prescribed minimum denominations.

Proposed House legislation designed to help Puerto Rico is moving to the full floor with light amendments after a 29-10 House Natural Resources Committee vote on Wednesday.

Market participants need to continue working toward broad disclosure of bank loans, possibly by amending the Securities and Exchange Commission’s disclosure rule to classify the loans as material events for issuers.

Issuers vented their frustrations about the complicated nature of voluntary bank loan disclosure in the municipal market to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board chair at the annual GFOA debt committee meeting.

The credit crisis in Puerto Rico may give Congress an opportunity to pass legislation that would allow direct regulation of state and local issuers, municipal market participants said Saturday.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association has released four model documents designed to help municipal advisors as they work to come into compliance with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s rule outlining the core duties for Mas.