Far West

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday announced that it has adopted a temporary rule requiring municipal advisers to register with it by Oct. 1 to comply with the recently enacted Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

MENLO PARK, Calif. — An independent study calls for California to overhaul management of its water supply system and give a newly created commission oversight of billions of dollars of bond money.

MENLO PARK, Calif. — California veterans general obligation bonds Thursday landed a ratings upgrade to Aa2 from Moody’s Investors Service, affecting $1.17 billion of outstanding debt.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — A bill to limit the ability of California local governments to file for bankruptcy expired Tuesday in the last-minute frenzy that marked the end of the regular 2010 session for the state’s stalemated Legislature.

WASHINGTON — Bowing to growing concerns from muni issuers, Moody’s Investors Service announced Wednesday that it will stop trying to get state and local issuers to agree to indemnify and hold it and its officers harmless for any mistakes they might make as a precondition to assigning ratings to municipal bond transactions.

WASHINGTON — More than 90% of municipal analysts surveyed believe they are more likely to hear about material events from the news than from issuers’ continuing disclosure notices, according to a new study.

The Treasury Department announced several changes Wednesday to its new issue bond purchase program for housing finance agencies, most notably that it is extending by one year through 2011 its deadline for converting short-term taxable bonds to long-term, tax-exempt bonds.

The Internal Revenue Service Wednesday announced it is accepting applications from nonprofit electric cooperatives for $190.8 million of new clean renewable energy bonds that have not yet been allocated.

WASHINGTON — A National Bureau of Economic Research study has concluded that while Build America Bonds have succeeded in their mission to lower financing costs for state and local governments, traditional tax-exempt bonds still offer more enticing after-tax yields to individual investors.

MENLO PARK, Calif. — The Reno City Council meets next week to discuss how the Nevada city can avoid defaulting on bonds backed by a lease with a defunct casino.