Far West

House members have proposed almost 600 amendments be added to the continuing resolution needed to keep the federal government operating for the remainder of fiscal 2011, including additional spending cuts that could jeopardize the Los Angeles County Metro extension and other transportation projects.

Senate Banking Committee Republicans worry Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Schapiro and other regulators are rushing to implement rules mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act without sufficient regard to cost-benefit analyses or public comments.

Proposed federal legislation to standardize pension reporting to a central repository would improve transparency and likely improve pension funding, Moody’s Investors Service said in a special comment released Monday.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority censured and fined Wells Fargo Advisors LLC $12,500 for failing to provide customers and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board with correct yield information from muni securities transactions.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $7 million of revenue bonds issued in 2007 by the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority for Confluence Energy LLC to finance the construction of a wood-pellet manufacturing plant in Kremmling, Colo.

WASHINGTON — Just one day after the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board issued a draft rule on muni advisers’ fiduciary duties, market participants are questioning the scope of the rule and whether it would apply to brokers engaged in certain activities such as recommending securities in which states and localities could invest general funds.

The Obama administration’s proposal to renew the Build America Bond program may suffer from the same problem it had the first time around, when the federal government didn’t think municipalities would use BABs that much.

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said on Monday that while he remains open to exploring how Congress may play a role in restoring fiscal sanity to state and local government budgets, he does not believe Washington should dictate public pension standards or allow states to seek bankruptcy protection.

WASHINGTON — The $3.7 trillion fiscal 2012 budget proposed by President Obama Monday would permanently reinstate an expanded Build America Bond program but at a lower 28% subsidy rate.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board issued a draft rule Monday that would spell out how muni advisers will be expected to comply with new fiduciary-duty obligations imposed on them by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.