Washington

The Securities and Exchange Commission unanimously adopted a registration rule for municipal advisors, establishing that they have a federal fiduciary duty to clients if they provide advice, compensated or not, that is related to bonds or other municipal financial products and involves recommendations based on the specific needs of a municipal entity.

The sentencing of former UBS banker Mark Zaino, who pleaded guilty of municipal bond bid-rigging, was rescheduled to Oct. 24 in a New York federal court.

Holders of debt issued by Detroit; Harrisburg, Pa.; Jefferson County, Ala.; and Stockton, Calif.; are unlikely to get outcomes even as favorable as investors during the Great Depression, according to a report issued Thursday by Moody's Investors Service.

A tax-exempt bond advisory panel to the Internal Revenue Service has recommended that the agency publish three documents to provide guidance to issuers of small governmental bond issues and conduit borrowers of small 501(c)(3) nonprofit bond issues about complying with arbitrage rebate and yield restriction requirements.

Washington is planning to sell $295 million of bonds backed by federal highway grants next week to continue financing its floating bridge project over Lake Washington.

The West Coast Infrastructure Exchange, has released a draft of standards to help select the public infrastructure projects it will support for private investment.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $604.14 million of general obligation limited tax bond bank bonds that were issued by Clark County, Nev., in 2006.

Reforms to the tax-exemption of municipal bonds should be "careful and deliberative, particularly in how they treat previously-issued debt," a report from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said.

The multi-billion dollar Columbia River Crossing project may be financially viable as long as certain conditions are met, according to a top official in the Oregon State Treasury.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has filed revised amendments with the Securities and Exchange Commission seeking to modify earlier rule change proposals governing retail order periods.

The congressionally-mandated sequestration could take about $60 million of income and sales tax revenue from the District of Columbia's economy and cause the city to lose about $30 million in federal grants and payments in fiscal 2014, district officials said Tuesday.

Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Jo White's annual salary is $165,300, far below the base compensation of any of the top-paid, full-time officials of 21 self-regulatory, industry, government, and other municipal securities-related groups, most of which the SEC either oversees or have members the commission regulates or protects.

Groups representing broker-dealers and issuers have sent a joint letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission complaining that the Municipal Securities Rulemaking board had sent SEC an amendment for approval without offering it for public comment, a charge the MSRB denied.

Tennessee has the highest combined state and local rate of 9.44%, a Tax Foundation study said Wednesday.

The Virginia Department of Transportation and the Elizabeth River tunnels' private partner are asking the Virginia Supreme Court to reverse a lower court's ruling that planned tolls for the project and provisions of the state's transportation P3 law are unconstitutional.

Despite improving local revenue growth, severe budget challenges persist at the local level, namely the unsustainable nature of defined benefit contribution plans, a Wells Fargo Securities report said Monday.

The Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority will pay the Internal Revenue Service $13.6 million to settle a tax dispute over $219.49 million of bonds issued it in 2006.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced Thursday that it has fined Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC $1 million and ordered the company to pay $188,000 in restitution plus interest for violations of municipal and corporate bond rules.

A weak financial report released by Providence Health & Services, Wash., will not affect its debt rating and outlook, said analysts at Standard & Poor's.