Washington

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is requesting feedback on, among other things, whether its rules impose undue burdens on market participants, and how those burdens could be alleviated.

The Municipal Bonds for America launched a technical advisory committee this week as a technical market data resource for members of Congress, congressional staff, policymakers and to support the overall advocacy issues of the coalition.

Two Democratic state senators in Washington, Rodney Tom and Tim Sheldon, defected from their caucus to hand control to Republicans.

A lawsuit challenging the legality of the Dulles Rail project's toll-powered funding mechanism will have to head to yet another venue after the federal court weighing the case decided it did not have jurisdiction to rule on the matter.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has changed how it calculates "bid to cover" ratios for auction-rate securities to make the data more indicative of investor demand.

The Internal Revenue Service's tax-exempt bond office will continue sending out its semiannual newsletter in 2013 after favorable feedback to its second edition.

Speaking in Washington before a Senate panel, Joseph Lhota, chairman of New York's MTA, urged federal help for his hurricane-battered transit system.

An agitated U.S. Secretary of Transportation reiterated the Obama administration's support for high-speed rail investment, and fought vigorously to defend the controversial and partly bond-funded $68 billion bullet train initiative in California.

For the first time in the group's history, the National Conference of State Legislators descended on Capitol Hill Wednesday and spent the day lobbying Congress on one single issue: an online sales tax bill.

Susan Gaffney, federal liaison director for the Government Finance Officers Association for the past 12 years, plans to leave her post at the end of next week and move to California to help with family matters.

A diverse group of associations with ties to the municipal bond market expect to publish a paper early next year that will give state and local governments guidance on how and when to disclose loans they receive direct from banks.

The National League of Cities has tapped Clarence E. Anthony, a former mayor and NLC president, to become its new executive director early next year.

Regulatory priorities for the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service this year and next include proposing guidance on arbitrage investment restrictions which likely includes issue price, according to plans they released this week.

There is more new leadership at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, as the group voted this week to elect Rhode Island Transportation Director Michael Lewis as the association's president for the next year.

The impact of the rapidly approaching fiscal cliff could devastate U.S. debt-financed infrastructure if Congress fails to find an alternative combination of cuts and revenue measures, Fitch Ratings said Monday.

Three muni market groups have joined forces with the Council of Development Finance Agencies and sent Congress draft legislation that would create special Hurricane Sandy Recovery Bonds to help businesses and people in the Mid-Atlantic region still reeling from storm-related destruction.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined three Chicago-based firms a total of $40,000 for violations of muni trade reporting and other rules.

Massachusetts Treasurer Steven Grossman wrote U.S. Senators Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., to oppose legislation that would limit states' control of online gambling within their borders.

The board of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority voted Wednesday to increase rates on the Dulles Toll Road, calling it necessary to finance part of the mostly bond-funded and highly controversial Silver Line rail extension to Dulles International Airport.

The District of Columbia achieved its lowest 25-year interest rate ever, surpassing even rates seen with federally subsidized Build America Bonds, when it sold its income tax-secured revenue bonds this week, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer announced Tuesday.