Lynn Hume

Muni market groups got a long-awaited win when the House passed banking legislation classifying certain munis as high-quality liquid assets, even if it wasn't as big a win as hoped.

The bank deregulatory bill passed by Congress on Tuesday would also make fewer banks systemically important and close a legal loophole that had allowed banks to defraud Puerto Rico investors.

The Puerto Rico Economic Empowerment Act of 2018 would implement some of the recommendations made by a congressional task force as well as provisions left out of disaster relief legislation, according to the two Republican senators who offered it.

The revenue procedure implements a proposal in President Trump's infrastructure plan that will help facilitate public-private partnership arrangements.

An unsealed whistleblower lawsuit accuses eight Wall Street and regional banks and broker-dealers that served as remarketing agents of fraud and collusion in resetting rates for variable rate demand obligations issued by state and local issuers in Illinois.

It's important and constructive to talk about these kinds of alternatives to advance refundings, market participants said.

Bond Dealers of America urges the House Ways and Means Committee to take up and pass a bill that would restore advance refunding bonds according to prior law.

Congress' deficit-raising actions have made it more likely that munis would be targeted for cuts to raise revenues in infrastructure or other future bond-related legislation.

With the deep cut in the corporate tax rate and rising interest rate, banks are rethinking their investments in municipal securities.

The collapse of the pedestrian bridge in Florida and resulting focus on its federal funding shouldn't impact the TIGER program, transit officials said.

Transit officials from across the nation meeting here this week said the president's proposed budget cuts don't track with his rhetoric on infrastructure.

The House has approved similar municipal securities and Puerto Rico provisions, but has wanted more sweeping bank deregulation legislation than the Senate.

Democrats are frustrated that President Trump's infrastructure plan would require state and local governments to come up with the majority of funds for infrastructure projects.

Concerns about Trump's infrastructure plan and the president's proposal to eliminate TIGER grants surface at Senate Commerce Committee panel hearing.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board must conduct a test of its business continuity and disaster recovery plans at least once every 12 months.

MSRB publishes a resource document after deciding not to take regulatory action on minimum denominations.

More than 64% of the funding under the TIGER program was awarded to rural projects – a record amount since the program started.

The $1 trillion infrastructure plan unveiled by Senate Democrats would be paid for by a rollback of some of the recently enacted Republican tax law provisions.

The Trump administration and a bipartisan group of four senators weigh in on the states' ability to collect online sales taxes in friend-of-the-court briefs filed with the Supreme Court.

Rep. Bill Shuster says a federal gas tax hike is the only way to pay for an infrastructure bill and that Congress could vote on legislation after the November elections.