Far West

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Assessed property values in California are likely to decline for the second year running, according to a Bond Buyer review of data from the state’s larger counties.

WASHINGTON — The House ethics committee’s investigative panel is alleging that former Ways and Means Committee chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has violated ethics rules.

OAKLAND, Calif. — It’s not dead yet.

WASHINGTON — Congress only has a very small window of time early next year to approve a multi-year transportation bill or it will risk losing the opportunity to do so for another two years, congressional aides said at a meeting here yesterday.

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress have asked the Federal Housing Finance Agency to consider allowing a pilot program for Property Assessed Clean Energy bonds that would allow for the gathering of data on how the programs affect home loans, a point of concern for the regulator.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is considering temporarily expanding its 15-member board, possibly by two to four members, as it transitions to majority-public membership by Oct. 1 to comply with the new financial regulatory reform law.

WASHINGTON — President Obama yesterday signed into law financial regulatory reform legislation that will make sweeping changes in the municipal and other markets, saying it will prevent a reoccurrence of the “breakdown” that caused the current “severe recession.”

EddieTech, a private nonprofit organization based here, is working to put together the first national pooled offering of direct-pay qualified school construction and qualified zone academy bonds for districts across the country.

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to propose new rules designed to revamp the sales and distribution fees some mutual funds charge and to provide better disclosures of them to investors.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering holding five field hearings between September and January as part of a nationwide inquiry on the municipal market that is expected to lead to recommendations for statutory and regulatory changes to better protect investors.