Far West

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., yesterday named Lily Batchelder chief tax counsel of the Senate Finance Committee.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has filed an administrative complaint against David Lerner Associates Inc. and its head trader, William Mason, charging they excessively marked up some 1,538 municipal bond transactions over a two-year period.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — California’s Bay Area Toll Authority will hit the market next month with a hefty Build America Bond deal.

A position the Internal Revenue Service is taking regarding $150 million of student-loan revenue bonds under audit could have ramifications for the entire tax-exempt student loan bond industry, market participants said last week.

A group of 11 California issuers are charging that an affiliate of Goldman Sachs & Co., J Aron & Co., is pressuring a member of the group to remove Goldman as a defendant in its civil suit charging that 36 Wall Street and other firms participated in a vast bid-rigging conspiracy for municipal swaps and investment agreements.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered his May budget proposal Friday afternoon, addressing a $17.9 billion deficit by proposing wholesale elimination of key social welfare programs, with no tax increases.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused the former manager of two Schroders Investment Management municipal bond mutual funds of tipping his family members about impending distress to the funds and urging them to sell their shares.

WASHINGTON — Reliance on volatile sources of tax revenue that swing in boom-and-bust cycles led to budget woes most states are currently facing, according to a new report published by the Tax Foundation.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission announced yesterday that it has promoted Gerald Hodgkins to become an associate director in its division of enforcement.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — What’s that sound you hear? Probably California’s budget problems hitting the fan again.