Far West

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday unanimously agreed to propose amendments to its Rule 2a-7 that would remove all credit rating references from the rule, which requires money market funds to invest in high-quality and very liquid short-term securities.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday that he is open to interstate tolling, which could provide funds for the Obama administration’s ambitious agenda, as an alternative to raising the federal gas tax, the current source of revenues for most transportation projects.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Boise County, Idaho, filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy Tuesday after losing an expensive court case.

The Bond Dealers of America has announced its new leadership team — Michael Marz as chairman, Larry Bowden as vice chairman, and Jay J. Hiniker 3d as secretary and treasurer.

More than two-thirds of states overestimated their revenue projections in fiscal 2009, forcing lawmakers to reopen budgets for additional rounds of spending cuts, according to a report released Tuesday.

The Internal Revenue Service has notified the Montana Facility Finance Authority that it has closed its audit of $14.15 million of variable-rate demand revenue bonds issued in 2002 without any change to the bonds’ tax-exempt status.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Two Florida senators, a Republican and a Democrat, filed a 281-page petition Tuesday with the state Supreme Court seeking an emergency ruling to block Gov. Rick Scott from rejecting $2.4 billion of federal funds for high-speed rail.

WASHINGTON — States officials are eyeing $2.4 billion of federal high-speed rail money that was allocated for Florida, but is now up for grabs after Gov. Rick Scott effectively ended the state’s project by rejecting the funding earlier this month.

Vallejo has been mired in a messy, prolonged and expensive bankruptcy proceeding since May 2008. But if the California city is “the poster boy of a new era,” as some have suggested, that doesn’t look too bad for bondholders.

WASHINGTON — House Financial Services Committee chairman Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., is warning the Securities and Exchange Commission that he does not support its proposed rules for a municipal adviser registration system because they are too broad and do not reflect congressional intent.