Jack Casey

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.

The House Natural Resources Committee will meet to vote on the recently revised Puerto Rico bill starting on Tuesday and continuing the following day.

The mayor of Harvey, Ill. has agreed to pay $10,000 and to never participate in a municipal bond offering again in order to settle charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission that he helped the city mislead bond investors by diverting proceeds from projects for which they were intended.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has filed a complaint against Phoenix-based Lawson Financial Corp. and the firm's president and chief executive officer, charging them with securities fraud in connection with the sale of millions of dollars of municipal revenue bonds to customers.

House members, government officials, and stakeholders all say the newest version of a bill to help Puerto Rico is a step forward, but their support for the measure seems tepid at best.

Three state Republican parties are challenging the constitutionality of a revised Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rule designed to prevent municipal advisors as well as dealers from engaging in pay-to-play practices. The revised rule was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission in February.

Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday urged the federal government to extend emergency loans to Puerto Rico to aid in debt restructuring. But he opposed the idea of a control board, which has been a cornerstone of legislation proposed by House Republicans.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, a subsidiary of Bank of America, was ordered to pay $422,708 in fines and restitution by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for charging customers excessive markups and markdowns on municipal securities.

The Government Finance Officers Association is seeking a new senior associate to engage in legislative and regulatory advocacy as part of the group’s federal liaison center here.

The Government Finance Officers Association posted an alert on Thursday encouraging its members to both voluntarily disclose the terms of their bank loans and pay attention to regulators’ increased scrutiny of the lack of such disclosures.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has filed revised amendments with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would require municipal securities transactions to be closed out within 20 days of settlement.