Washington

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposal to extend its dealer pay-to-play rule to include municipal advisors contains provisions that would affect both dealer and non-dealer MAs, market participants said Tuesday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations has launched a program to scrutinize newly-regulated municipal advisors, the SEC announced Tuesday.

Airport credits are stabilizing after major shifts in the airline industry, Moody's Investors Service said, but smaller hub airports face challenges.

Moody's Investors Service has raised its outlook to positive on Seattle Cancer Alliance's outstanding bonds.

Mileage-based fees may one day replace the gasoline tax as the prime source for federal transportation funding, but it won't be quick and it won't be easy.

Beginning Aug. 20, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association's Municipal Swap Index will use only data that has been reported to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board in its weekly benchmark calculation.

Personal income taxes and possibly all state taxes appear to be down in the second quarter of this year based on preliminary data, the Rockefeller Institute of Government of the State University of New York said in a report released Thursday.

The Fannin County Public Facility Corp. in Texas has settled tax law violations with the Internal Revenue Service by agreeing to pay $1.75 million and redeem all of the outstanding bonds from the $30.78 million it issued in 2008 to finance a jail.

The Far West Region mirrored the U.S. with municipal bond sales dropping 24.8% during the first half of 2014 compared to the same period a year earlier.

Congress delayed, but did not fix, a $100 billion hole in federal transportation spending with the enactment last Friday of legislation providing $10.8 billion to extend solvency of the rapidly shrinking Highway Trust Fund by 10 months.

Marijuana legalization has failed to live up to the hype in terms of its impact on state economies, according to the three major rating agencies.

Many municipal market professionals are concerned that the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposed best execution rule would not be functionally different from the fair pricing obligations that the MSRB and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority already impose on dealers.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced Tuesday that it will rebate $3.6 million to broker-dealers because it has collected more money in technology fees than the board needs to maintain its systems.

Susan Collet, who until recently worked at the Bond Dealers of America, is launching her own government-relations advisory firm focused on municipal securities, tax policy and not-for-profit electric utilities.

President Obama signed a 10-month, $11 billion bailout of Highway Trust Fund that ensures federal reimbursements continue to state transportation projects.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is urging voters to press lawmakers for a long-term solution to federal highway funding before the end of 2014, but industry experts don't expect Congress to take action until spring 2015 at the earliest.

Kym Arnone, managing director at Barclays Capital, will become the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's new chair beginning Oct. 1.

The National Association of Water Companies wants the Treasury Department to clarify tax rules so that state and local governments can ensure the tax-exempt bonds they used to finance their water and wastewater facilities will not become taxable if they enter into public-private partnerships.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposal to simplify its rules on professional designations by limiting the activities of some dealer representatives and eliminating one of its professional designations.

Short-term patch of the Highway Trust Fund is credit positive for $12 billion of state highway Garvee bonds, Moody's says. But neither it nor other major rating agencies are planning to change Garvee ratings or outlooks.