Far West

State transportation officials, engineers, construction firms and transportation advocacy groups are urging lawmakers working on a final highway bill to support the use of new tax-credit bonds to finance transportation projects.

The IRS’s new compliance practice research team will begin circulating a document internally for feedback that will identify red flags for issuers that are likely to occur over the life of a bond issue.

California Gov. Jerry Brown released a revised budget that will try to bandage a projected deficit that has grown by $6.5 billion to nearly $16 billion for the next fiscal year.

WASHINGTON — District of Columbia residents purchased more than $100 million of the city' latest bond sale of $314 million of income tax-secured revenue refunding bonds, which saved more than $35 million in interest expense, or more than 10% of the refunded principal amount, officials said.

The nation's governors are urging House and Senate conferees working on a final highway bill to avoid doing anything that would restrict flexibility for tax-exempt financing or have a chilling effect on public-private partnerships.

SAN FRANCISCO — California Controller John Chiang said he found "glaring holes" in the finances of the city of Hercules during two audits.

LOS ANGELES — San Diego Association of Government officials are upset over a one-notch downgrade of their bonds by Moody's Investors Service.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission Friday said it’s delaying taking action on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s proposed rules that would govern the activities of broker’s-brokers until at least June 22.

WASHINGTON — Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Schapiro wants to move forward with regulations aimed at improving the stability of money-market funds, despite strong opposition from industry and state and local government groups.

WASHINGTON — The American Bar Association’s taxation section has sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department urging them to update their rules and guidance on management contracts, which are important in determining that certain governmental and 501(c)(3) bonds remain tax-exempt and are not private-activity bonds.