Far West

SAN FRANCISCO — The tangled tale involving bonds issued for the failed Copia “wine shrine” in Napa, Calif., could reach a major turning point later this month when a bankruptcy judge will consider confirming a plan to conclude the museum’s almost 11-month-old bankruptcy case.

WASHINGTON — Groups representing student loan bond issuers, port authorities, and airports are asking Congress to permanently exempt private-activity bonds from the alternative minimum tax and allow all current PABs to be refinanced to obtain the exemption

WASHINGTON — Guggenheim Partners LLC wants to be the first in the municipal market to “strip” the tax credit from tax-credit bonds and isn’t waiting for the Treasury Department to issue guidance on the matter.

WASHINGTON — A Securities and Exchange Commission official asked a congressional committee yesterday to strengthen its draft bill to regulate over-the-counter derivatives so that all securities-based swaps are treated as securities. However, the request was met by resistance from the panel’s chairman and another regulator.

The National Governors Association adopted a policy opposing federal restrictions on public-private partnerships after a multiyear transportation authorization bill introduced in the House proposed creating a federal office to oversee see P3s on highways that receive federal aid.

CHICAGO — The market for tax-credit bonds created by the federal stimulus is expected to take off despite a sluggish start and remaining questions surrounding the so-called tax-stripping option, said participants at The Bond Buyer’s Municipal Finance in the Stimulus Era conference here yesterday.

Interactive Data Corp. and Pluris Valuation Advisors LLC have teamed up to provide what they contend will be first-of-its-kind daily pricing data for illiquid student loan and other municipal auction-rate securities.

WASHINGTON - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board yesterday issued draft amendments to its Rule G-37 that would require banks and bank holding companies to disclose on a quarterly basis the contributions that their political action committees make to municipal issuer officials.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus unveiled health care reform legislation yesterday that would require bond-financed and other nonprofit 501(c)(3) hospitals to conduct regular assessments of community health needs, implement financial assistance programs, and limit how much they could bill certain patients and how far they could go to collect.

So many state and local governments are in fierce competition for $1.5 billion of discretionary grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation that it may be impossible for most of them to receive funding.