Far West

The Internal Revenue Service has ruled that a nonprofit health care system cannot use tax-exempt bonds to pay off the debt of a for-profit subsidiary that financed the development of a wellness and fitness facility, even though the facility was donated to another nonprofit organization.

Other financial industry groups lobby Washington lawmakers and regulators about the issues that affect the municipal securities markets, but few can match SIFMA's resources.

As Jefferson County, Ala., teetered on the edge of bankruptcy for much of this year, a financial industry group plowed more than $4 million into lobbying Washington lawmakers and regulators to dilute provisions of the reform law enacted last year to curb the kinds of abuses that helped trigger the municipality's fiscal distress.

SIFMA's highest-paid outside lobbyist this year, Ernst & Young LLP in Washington, received $240,000 through September for activities in the House, the Senate, and the Treasury Department on miscellaneous corporate tax issues related to financial services, according to its disclosure reports.

The Inland Valley Development Agency in California disclosed that it and the San Bernardino International Airport Authority are being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

State treasurers voiced concerns about a proposal unveiled by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board that recommends they provide five-year projections of cash flows and information about future financial obligations.

California Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled a ballot initiative to temporarily raise the top income tax rate on individuals to as much as 12.3% - making it the highest in the country - as part of an effort to raise nearly $7 billion annually.

LOS ANGELES — An unexpected spike in California job creation numbers has the UCLA Anderson Forecast's economists speculating that the state may have turned a corner on its economic malaise.

WASHINGTON - An industry group on Tuesday will unveil a revised edition of a one-volume treatise on municipal bonds, citing significant changes in the market since the last edition went to press 10 years ago.

WASHINGTON — Touting the success of the Treasury Department’s New Issue Bond Purchase Program, a group of local housing finance agencies is urging the Obama administration to modify and extend it, this time allowing the Treasury to exchange mortgage-backed securities it holds in its portfolio for MBS that wrap NIBP bonds.