Far West

WASHINGTON — Cities need another dose of recovery aid from the federal government in any forthcoming jobs bill, including extensions of Build America Bonds and other bond-related stimulus programs, global credit ratings for corporate and muni bonds, and more funds for transportation and water infrastructure projects, officials told President Obama this week.

The Justice Department must release details from 300 municipal reinvestment contracts that allegedly were rigged, as well as the identities of the alleged co-conspirators involved in those transactions, to attorneys representing CDR Financial Products and three individuals named in a federal indictment in late October, a judge in New York said Friday.

WASHINGTON — Dismissing criticism from market groups, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has moved forward with a proposal that would require muni securities dealers, as well as their finance professionals and political action committees, to disclose most contributions they make to bond ballot election campaigns.

SAN FRANCISCO — The recession has had a lighter touch in Montana than in most states, but its affects are beginning to eat into the state budget, according to a report the Legislature’s fiscal analyst delivered last week.

House and Senate leaders may soon include a six-month extension of the current transportation law in an omnibus appropriations bill, as the Dec. 18 expiration date of the latest extension approaches, sources said Friday.

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve chairman Ben S. Bernanke yesterday cautioned lawmakers against pushing for a job-creation bill right now, saying the first federal stimulus law has not fully affected the economy and that it may be “early to do more fiscal actions.”

WASHINGTON — The Senate Finance Committee’s top Republican introduced legislation yesterday that would authorize another $2.2 billion of clean renewable energy bonds, while the House Ways and Means Committee is expected to introduce a bill next week that would extend a number of expiring tax provisions.

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of California taxpayer advocates is aiming to turn a bad run of news for public retirement plans into a pension reform movement in the nation’s biggest state.

WASHINGTON — Large local school districts would not be forced to give up their unused qualified school construction bond allocations to states to keep them from expiring at the end of the year under legislation proposed yesterday by the top tax writers in the House.

SAN FRANCISCO — Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal this week proposed a 10% cut in spending in the upcoming biennium, as the least populous U.S. state adjusts to lower natural gas prices.