Far West

California lawmaker Bob Wiekowski introduced legislation for Treasurer Bill Lockyer to curb private contractors running conduit issuers in the state, including California Statewide Communities Development Authority.

Peabody Energy Corp., which led efforts to develop the mostly bond-financed, joint power agency-owned Prairie State Energy Campus, has received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission on the coal-fired plant's development.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has moved its library of electronic disclosures of dealers' political contributions to the EMMA system, the board announced Monday.

With sequestration looming, and the tax-exempt bond threatened, market experts at the National Municipal Bond Summit believe that alternative financing can be achieved with taxable bonds.

The successor agency to Monrovia, Cali's redevelopment agency refunded a five-year note that went into default last summer during the months it took to get approval from the state to refinance.

The sequestration cuts scheduled to take effect March 1 could throw the muni market into uncertainty and slam the air transport sector, according to market groups and public officials.

The tax exemption on municipal bond interest will not survive tax reform efforts in Washington, D.C., without a grass-roots effort from issuers, according to market experts at the fifth National Municipal Bond Summit.

Chicago received 16 responses in its first market outreach to identify prospective bidders in a possible deal to privatize Midway International Airport, according to the city's chief financial officer Lois Scott.

The Internal Revenue Service closed an audit of $39.24 million general obligation bonds issued in 2007 by Manchester, Conn., with no change to the bonds' tax-exempt status.

Municipal market participants are encouraged but cautious about President Obama's proposal for a new type of taxable, direct-pay bond called America Fast Forward bonds to finance the nation's infrastructure.