Far West

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators would spend months, if not years, implementing the sweeping changes to the municipal market that were outlined in the financial regulatory reform legislation finalized by House and Senate negotiators late last week.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The public health care district in Marin County, Calif., regains control of the county’s largest hospital today, in a shift that is likely to presage a bond offering in coming years.

A wastewater plant built by a pharmaceutical company with exempt facility bonds does not violate tax laws or rules because the waste’s acidity level has to be neutralized before it can be sent to a public treatment facility, the Internal Revenue Service ruled.

Efforts to extend the Build America Bonds program and other temporary bond provisions enacted as part of last year's stimulus act took a major step backwards last week when Senate Democrats tabled the tax package including the extensions after yet another failed procedural vote.

SAN FRANCISCO — If there are any solutions to the nation's persistent shortfalls in financing transportation infrastructure, they're more likely to come from the local level, according to members of an expert panel Friday.

WASHINGTON — Financial regulatory reform legislation that House and Senate lawmakers hope will be ready for President Obama's signature at the end of the week is expected to authorize sweeping changes to the way the municipal market is regulated.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit last week ruled in favor of Prince George's County, Md., and its 2008 plan to furlough about 5,900 workers, overturning a lower federal court ruling and restoring a savings opportunity for the triple-A rated county.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court yesterday ruled that “honest services” fraud — a criminal statute that has been used to prosecute wrongdoing in the municipal market — is limited to bribery and kickback schemes.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Officials in the Los Angeles area say momentum is building behind a plan to accelerate construction of multiple transit projects — a plan that would require as-yet-uncreated forms of federal financial support.

WASHINGTON — Military housing bond issuers should keep an eye on Build America Bonds as likely competition as they attempt to reclaim a spot in the bond market — and the military may have a need for $25 billion of new housing debt in the future, panelists said yesterday at The Bond Buyer's Fifth Annual Financing Military Housing Privatization Conference.