Far West

Members of Congress and local officials yesterday pushed for passage of pending legislation that would create jobs at the county and city level, in an effort to avoid losses of up to 500,000 government jobs over the next year and a half.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is wrestling with how much it needs to increase its staff, technological capability, and funds to implement provisions of the new financial regulatory reform law that require it to make the most expansive changes since its creation in 1975.

A discussion draft of a new bill unveiled yesterday by House Ways and Means Committee chairman Sander Levin, D-Mich., would allow state and local governments to issue tax-exempt private-activity bonds to finance energy improvements to residential homes and would authorize more than $5 billion for new renewable energy bonds.

Airports may begin seeking more public-private partnership agreements as financing needs mount and more private investors step forward, market participants said at a panel here last week.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The city of Bell, Calif., received a singular piece of good news Monday as one of its bond ratings rose amid the tempest over the huge salaries paid to some of its public servants.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is ­opposed to a gasoline tax increase or mileage fee to generate revenue for the next multi-year transportation bill, but would support a number of public and private options ­including bond-related financing, Transportation Secretary Ray ­LaHood said Friday.

WASHINGTON — House Ways and Means Committee chairman Sander Levin plans next week to unveil new jobs legislation that would extend Build America Bonds and other muni bond initiatives that are set to expire at the end of the year.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Officials in Modoc County, Calif., scrambled to avoid insolvency last week after years of lax accounting put the government in a $12.5 million financial hole.

It will take five years to turn the new federal financial reform law into rules and regulation, an industry expert from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association said last week.

WASHINGTON — At the request of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is moving forward with rule changes for priority of orders in primary offerings. The changes are more in line with the original proposal the MSRB floated late last year rather than a pared-down version it agreed to in April.