Far West

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced on Wednesday that it will be offering a free six-week video series to educate municipal securities investors about fundamental disclosure documents.

John Cross will leave as director of the SEC's Office of Municipal Securities next month to succeed Vicky Tsilas as the Treasury Department's associate tax legislative counsel, according to the SEC and sources. Tsilas is rejoining Ballard Spahr in January.

Market participants are concerned that language in the Securities and Exchange Commission's proposal to remove references to credit ratings from its Rule 2a-7 governing money market funds could be too restrictive on what securities MMFs could purchase.

Sanjeev "Sonny" Bhagowalia, the Hawaii governor's chief advisor on Technology and Cyber Security, was named deputy assistant secretary and chief information officer for the U.S. Department of Treasury.

California's state-owned earthquake insurance provider is planning to sell $350 million of taxable bonds next week to help boost its ability to pay claims.

Work will get under way next year on D.C.'s $54 billion, 25-year transportation plan, including a new bridge over the Anacostia River.

A refunding deal assembled by the County of Los Angeles Redevelopment Refunding Authority triggered some positive rating actions for debt issued by the former Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles.

The Bond Dealers of America is urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to crack down on non-dealer municipal advisors acting as unlicensed broker-dealers by assisting municipalities in placing their debt through the direct placement markets.

The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, which garnered attention this summer for its historic century bond issuance, will return to the market with about $350 million of public utility subordinate lien revenue refunding bonds that are likely to price Tuesday.

While finding new revenue sources for highway improvements is indeed a thorny political issue, analysts at Conning feel that the credit quality of the existing bonds remains sound.