Far West

CHICAGO — Ongoing turmoil in financial markets and historically low interest rates have led institutional investors to increase scrutiny of issuers’ disclosure documents, an insurance company investment officer said at the Government Finance Officers Association annual meeting.

CHICAGO — Government Finance Officers Association debt committee members on Sunday urged municipal issuers to consider disclosing information about their bank loans online on EMMA in the wake of a Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board notice requesting such information.

The IRS will begin limited-scope examinations of bond anticipation notes in July and then examinations of filed 8038-T forms on arbitrage rebate, an IRS official said.

WASHINGTON — Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus said Monday that he plans to meet with committee members this week to discuss extending expired and expiring tax provisions “without any games.”

SAN FRANCISCO — As California lawmakers work this week to hammer out a balanced budget by Friday’s deadline, Standard & Poor’s weighed in Monday with its take on the state’s dysfunctional spending plan.

A federal judge rejected a request by the U.S. Justice Department to use sections of certain audio files as evidence in the upcoming bid-rigging trial against former UBS Financial Services bankers Peter Ghavami, Gary Heinz and Michael Welty.

WASHINGTON — Sentencing has been delayed until Oct. 25 for Adrian Scott-Jones, a former guaranteed investment contract broker who pleaded guilty in 2010 to charges of fraud and conspiracy in connection with alleged bid-rigging.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded $1.75 billion of San Jose Redevelopment Agency bonds to junk after the city of San Jose said a default was possible because of a conflict over tax revenue with Santa Clara County.

WASHINGTON — Congress will likely pass a separate bill to extend expired and expiring tax law provisions, some of which are bond-related, before the end of the year, the chairman of a House Ways and Means panel told reporters after a hearing Friday.

WASHINGTON — The Council of Development Finance Agencies will unveil a draft legislative proposal Friday that would ease tax-law restrictions for small industrial development bonds, which are used to finance manufacturing facilities.