Washington

Tax law changes allowing the tax credits of tax-credit bonds to be stripped and sold separately to investors have increased the risk for improper or fraudulent tax credit claims, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said in a June 26 report.

The Senate confirmed Michael Piwowar and Kara Stein as members of the Securities and Exchange Commission by unanimous consent Thursday evening.

Moody's Investors Service has revised its outlook for the District of Columbia's approximately $2.2 billion of outstanding general obligation bonds to stable from negative, and the ratings agency affirmed the bonds' Aa2 rating.

Nearly a dozen state and local groups are urging Congress to restore significant cuts that were made to the clean water and drinking water state revolving fund programs in the latest appropriations bill.

Washington State is planning to sell $864 million of general obligation bonds in a competitive offering next week after receiving improved outlooks from two credit rating agencies.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is seeking input from market participants on whether it should collect pre-trade pricing information from broker-dealers and make it available over its online EMMA system.

If the top individual tax rate were lowered to 25% from the current 39.6%, as favored by Republicans, and the alternative minimum tax were repealed, it would cost $3.77 trillion over 10 years, a new Joint Committee on Taxation report said Wednesday.

The National Association of Water Companies is urging the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to change the remedial actions that must be taken when bonds no longer meet private activity bond restrictions, claiming the current ones deter or burden public-private partnerships.

The Senate Finance Committee's top Republican said Wednesday that Detroit's bankruptcy filing and Chicago's pension problems illustrate the need for legislation he has proposed that would allow state and local governments to turn to move from defined benefit plans to life insurance company annual annuities.

President Obama described a pro-growth tax reform and jobs package during a speech in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Tuesday, but many of the municipal bond-related measures proposed were ones he unveiled earlier.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Tuesday named new officers and board members who will assume their posts Oct. 1.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Tuesday announced its officers and Board of Directors members who will begin their terms on October 1, 2013. Daniel Heimowitz, Managing Director at RBC Capital Markets, will serve as Chair of the MSRB. Joseph J. Geraci, Managing Director and Co-Head of Municipal Markets at Citi, will serve as Vice Chair.

For the first time, the SEC has charged an issuer, an underwriter, and one of its officials with falsely claiming in bond documents that the issuer was meeting its secondary market disclosure obligations when it wasn't.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, under fire for a plan to keep committee members' proposals for overhauling the Internal Revenue Code secret, may release portions of the legislation after the August recess.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's proposal for money market funds to use floating net asset values could cost state and local governments millions dollars and force them to abandon MMF investments, market participants and a new study asserted Thursday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is urging reporters and members of the public to go to its EMMA online website for information on Detroit's bonds and the municipal securities market in general.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's recent enforcement action against Miami, Fla. signals the commission's seriousness about both upholding prior cease and desist orders and holding public officials accountable, market participants said.

Gonzaga University postponed a $47.5 million taxable revenue bond deal saying it plans to wait for market conditions to firm.

The Internal Revenue Service's Office of Appeals is recommending that the agency issue a new determination letter in order to reinstate the tax exemption of approximately $8.5 million charter school project revenue bonds issued for the LEAP Academy University Charter School in 2003.

Fitch Ratings has revised Washington State's outlook to stable from negative citing improved economic and revenue performance.