Washington

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board launched a series of free online training videos Thursday to help dealers and issuers submit primary- and secondary-market disclosures to the board's EMMA system.

The House Financial Services Committee passed a municipal advisor bill Wednesday after striking a requirement that MAs have written agreements with issuers, one of the bill's most contentious provisions.

State treasurers voted Monday to urge Moody's Investors Service to carefully consider the consequences of its proposed changes to analyzing public-sector pension data, warning it will muddy already complicated pension issues for the public and financial markets.

Virginia Treasurer Manju Ganeriwala has been elected president of the National Association of State Treasurers for 2013.

Maryland State Treasurer Nancy Kopp was awarded the 2012 Jesse Unruh Award for her outstanding service to her profession and her state.

Washington's Economic and Review Forecast Council, the state's budget revenue forecaster, named Stephen Lerch as executive director.

The Internal Revenue Service has stepped up its efforts to investigate possible misconduct in the municipal bond sector, more than doubling the number of examinations it conducts per year.

A new projection produced by the Congressional Budget Office shows that both the highway trust fund and transit account, key sources of federal transportation funding, will run out of money in fiscal year 2015 under the recently enacted transportation law.

Australia-based infrastructure development giant Macquarie Capital will advise San Juan, P.R. in its quest to put together a light rail public-private partnership that has been estimated at $400 million, the city announced Monday.

Revenue forecasting can make or break a project

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro may have lost the first round in her push to reform the $2.6 trillion money market mutual fund industry, but the fight has only just begun.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has filed proposed rule changes with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would require the exact par value of trades up to $5 million to be reported over EMMA on a near-real time basis.

The IRS is auditing $98.5 million of general obligation refunding bonds that the State of Texas Water Financial Assistance issued in 2002.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will not pursue regulations aimed reducing the susceptibility of money market mutual funds to market runs, SEC chairman Mary Schapiro said in a statement Wednesday night.

The U.S. is headed for a deep recession in the first half of 2013 if Congress fails to avert nearly $500 billion in tax hikes and federal budget cuts from the "fiscal cliff," the Congressional Budget Office warned Wednesday.

Four municipal market groups are urging the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to publish guidance on determination of issue price for tax-exempt, tax credit and direct subsidy bonds.

Four transportation projects will be expedited as part of the president's "We Can't Wait" program, the Obama Administration announced this week, including the $3.5 billion Columbia River Crossing linking Vancouver, Wash. and Portland, Ore.

The Internal Revenue Service granted an extension to an issuer so that it could correct a form it filed for multi-family housing bonds without jeopardizing the tax-exempt status of the bonds, according to a recently issued private letter ruling.

Washington Bureau Chief Lynn Hume talks to Michael Decker of SIFMA

Piper Jaffray & Co., Foster Pepper PLLC and K&L Gates LLP may reduce fees to settle over legal claims tied to Wenatchee $42 million note default.