Peter Schroeder

WASHINGTON — The second-quarter employment cost index rose 0.5% for civilian workers, the Labor Department reported Friday. The gain followed an unrevised 0.6% increase for the previous quarter and was in line with the 0.5% uptick predicted by economists.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. first quarter employment cost index rose 0.5% for overall compensation costs to civilian workers, the Labor Department reported Friday.

WASHINGTON — Twenty-four municipal market groups have signed a letter praising House Ways and Means Committee chairman Sander Levin for introducing legislation to extend several temporary muni bond provisions, and calling for continued support of municipal issuers during tough economic times.

WASHINGTON — House Ways and Means Committee chairman Sander Levin Wednesday introduced a new bill that enables Congress to make another attempt at extending several bond provisions slated to expire at the end of the year, including Build America Bonds.

WASHINGTON — A draft bill released by House Ways and Means Committee chairman Sander Levin late Monday would authorize over $5 billion in new bond authority for renewable energy projects and open the door for private-activity bonds to be used by states and localities to finance energy-efficient upgrades to residential homes.

A discussion draft of a new bill unveiled yesterday by House Ways and Means Committee chairman Sander Levin, D-Mich., would allow state and local governments to issue tax-exempt private-activity bonds to finance energy improvements to residential homes and would authorize more than $5 billion for new renewable energy bonds.

WASHINGTON — House Ways and Means Committee chairman Sander Levin plans next week to unveil new jobs legislation that would extend Build America Bonds and other muni bond initiatives that are set to expire at the end of the year.

WASHINGTON — The House ethics committee’s investigative panel is alleging that former Ways and Means Committee chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has violated ethics rules.

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress have asked the Federal Housing Finance Agency to consider allowing a pilot program for Property Assessed Clean Energy bonds that would allow for the gathering of data on how the programs affect home loans, a point of concern for the regulator.

WASHINGTON — A House ethics committee is alleging that former Ways and Means Committee chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has violated ethical rules.

EddieTech, a private nonprofit organization based here, is working to put together the first national pooled offering of direct-pay qualified school construction and qualified zone academy bonds for districts across the country.

The Cinco Municipal Utility District No. 1, located near Houston, has disclosed that the Internal Revenue Service is auditing $5.2 million of revenue bonds it issued in 2002 to finance water and sewer infrastructure.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and 29 other members of Congress have introduced legislation that would prevent Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from stifling state programs that allow localities to sell bonds to finance energy-efficient ­upgrades made by ­homeowners.

WASHINGTON — California Attorney General Jerry Brown is suing mortgage titans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, for effectively killing programs that allow the state’s localities to issue bonds to finance energy-efficient upgrades made by homeowners.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., has introduced legislation that would allow new clean renewable energy bonds to be used to finance qualified biogas property.

The Treasury Department is seeking comments from tribal governments on the tribal economic development bonds authorized by the stimulus law, including whether Congress should permanently repeal the “essential governmental function” standard for all tribal bonds.

Six state and local groups are urging the Senate to pass an extension to the Build America Bonds program, which they say is critical to governments during this time of unprecedented budgetary strain.

WASHINGTON — New York City Comptroller John Liu is calling on the state’s congressional delegation to press the Internal Revenue Service to provide consistent and specific guidance on controversial issues surrounding the Build America Bond program.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service has closed an audit of $52.5 million of bonds issued by the Ave Maria Stewardship Community District in southwest Florida with no change to the tax-exempt status of the debt, the district disclosed this week.

Congress’ failure to pass a six-month extension of enhanced federal matching funds under the Federal Medicaid ­Assistance Program will deprive states of billions of dollars in expected revenue, lead to drastic cuts in programs and result in the loss of thousands of jobs, 13 governors warned Wednesday.