Far West

WASHINGTON — Municipal bond analysts worry that issuers increasingly are drawing on bond insurance to temporarily pay for debt service without disclosing the action to investors.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., has introduced legislation that would allow new clean renewable energy bonds to be used to finance qualified biogas property.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats on Tuesday secured the 60 votes they will need to ensure passage of the most sweeping changes to financial regulations since the Great Depression, after Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson said he would vote for a version of the bill hammered out by a House-Senate conference late last month.

WASHINGTON — State tax collections grew during the first quarter for the first time since 2008, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government reported Tuesday, raising hope that the national economic recovery may finally be improving states’ fiscal fortunes.

The Treasury Department is seeking comments from tribal governments on the tribal economic development bonds authorized by the stimulus law, including whether Congress should permanently repeal the “essential governmental function” standard for all tribal bonds.

Wall Street’s largest securities dealers eased credit terms during the second quarter for hedge funds and private-equity firms that borrow against securities and trade over-the-counter derivatives, according to the results of a Federal Reserve Board survey issued Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — Congress returns to work this week still lacking a clear game plan for extending bond programs and other federal assistance for state and local governments, despite pleas for the extensions from governors meeting in Boston through the weekend.

BOSTON – U.S. governors this weekend called for greater fiscal discipline in their states to calm bond market fears over their debts, but they offered little consensus on efforts to extend certain federal government stimulus programs, specifically Build America Bonds.

CHICAGO — Washington Treasurer James McIntire last week chided Standard & Poor’s, charging that the rating agency inaccurately reported the funded status of his state’s pension system in a recent national report on looming pension funding and policy challenges facing states.

Six state and local groups are urging the Senate to pass an extension to the Build America Bonds program, which they say is critical to governments during this time of unprecedented budgetary strain.