Far West

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission has quietly hired the head-hunting firm Korn/Ferry ­International to find candidates to lead a new municipal securities office that will have a higher stature within the SEC.

Congress is expected to leave town either late Wednesday or early Thursday to campaign for the fall elections after approving stopgap spending legislation that would keep the federal government running in fiscal 2011, which starts on Oct. 1.

SAN FRANCISCO — Lawyers for the city of Vallejo, Calif., said the National Federation of Municipal Analysts failed to back up “apocalyptical” predictions with any evidence in the city’s response to a brief the organization filed in its bankruptcy case.

WASHINGTON — Congress should create two types of direct-pay transportation bonds to help states and localities build and repair crumbling infrastructure, market participants told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee during a hearing Tuesday.

Regulators’ heightened concern for retail investors in the muni market was on display Tuesday when a top Financial Industry Regulatory Authority official posed an alarming scenario to industry representatives in New York.

An issuer that wants to refund post-2003 commercial paper before the end of the year can take advantage of a stimulus provision that allows those refunding notes to be exempt from the alternative minimum tax, the Internal Revenue Service recently ruled.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board issued a report Tuesday summarizing the data it has collected on auction-rate securities and variable-rate demand obligations, as the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the board’s proposal to provide $10,000-per-year subscriptions for real-time data on such securities.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — California Treasurer Bill Lockyer is preparing to take out a multibillion-dollar bridge loan from major banks once the nation’s most populous state adopts a budget.

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Department of Water Resources will sell $1.9 billion of power revenue bonds next week to refund debt sold after the state’s energy crisis.

WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia is lowering its revenue estimates for fiscal 2010 and 2011 amid the weak economy, but it’s making sure it will stay within its debt cap, chief financial officer Natwar Gandhi said Monday.