Far West

WASHINGTON — Leaders of the House and Senate tax-writing committees yesterday planned to unveil legislation that would temporarily extend the Build America Bond program as well as several other municipal bond provisions set to expire at the end of the year.

WASHINGTON — A fourth market participant, Mark Zaino, has pleaded guilty to participating in bid-rigging and fraud conspiracies in connection with municipal investment contracts and derivatives, the Justice Department announced yesterday.

Two bond-issuing authorities in Virginia entered into a voluntary closing agreement with the Internal Revenue Service to preserve the status of $74.3 million of bonds after one of them sold its waste-to-energy facilities, which were financed with the bonds, to Wheelabrator Portsmouth Inc.

The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to vote on proposed changes to its Rule 15c2-12 on disclosure at an open meeting Wednesday and also may direct staff to approve a related Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board proposal the same day.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to vote on proposed changes to its Rule 15c2-12 on municipal market disclosure at an open meeting May 26, according to a notice the SEC released Tuesday evening.

WASHINGTON — Maine is the first state or local government to obtain a credit opinion from the National Association of Insurance Commissioner’s Securities Valuation Office for a new issue of municipal bonds.

WASHINGTON — The Senate yesterday voted down an amendment to financial regulatory reform legislation that would have imposed a blanket prohibition on federal assistance to states and localities in financial trouble for reasons other than a natural ­disaster.

The Securities and Exchange Commission should clarify the responsibilities of elected issuer officials who approve or authorize primary offering documents and secondary market disclosures, the National Association of Bond Lawyers said this week.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service has closed its audit of $161.3 million of variable-rate demand student housing revenue bonds issued by the Payne County, Okla., Economic Development Authority in 2002 with no change to the tax-exempt status of the debt.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has correctly identified the scope of California’s $17.9 billion budget deficit, according to the state’s independent Legislative Analyst’s Office, which disagreed with some of his proposed solutions in a report released Tuesday.