Far West

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced the members of its new, majority-public board Friday, hours after it proposed a series of large fee increases to defray the technology costs for its EMMA site as well as expenses tied to the regulation of municipal advisers under the Dodd-Frank Act.

SAN FRANCISCO — The University of Oregon has been forced to plunge deeper into a special reserve fund seeded by sneaker magnate Phil Knight to cover interest payments on $200 million of debt sold to pay for one of the most expensive college basketball arenas in the country.

The National Congress of American Indians is urging the Treasury Department to revoke the burdensome “essential governmental function” test for tribal tax-exempt financings, as well as allow tribes to take advantage of private-activity bonds and use federal guarantees.

Congress and the Obama administration would be wasting an opportunity to revive infrastructure if they set up a national infrastructure bank and its investment-selection process the same way that existing programs are structured, an economic analyst said here Friday morning.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Thursday vetoed a bill that would have expanded the authority of redevelopment agencies into job-creation activities.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is preparing a proposal for a multi-year transportation bill that will talk about the importance of developing “institutional capacity” to support a national high-speed rail network, a federal rail official revealed Wednesday night at a conference here.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission late Thursday signed off on rule changes that make the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board a majority-public self-regulator and allow it to temporarily expand to 21 from 15 members beginning Friday, the start of its new fiscal year.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to launch its new office of municipal securities by the end of October, chairman Mary Schapiro said in prepared testimony presented to the Senate Banking Committee Thursday.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — It has been more than six years since San Diego dropped its disclosure bombshell about failing to tell investors of the city’s pension ­underfunding.

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers early Thursday approved a stopgap measure that would fund the federal government at current levels until Dec. 3, before breaking for an election recess. Their action sets the stage for a lame-duck session during which municipal market participants hope they will take up legislation to extend Build America Bonds and other expiring or expired bond-related programs authorized by the stimulus law.