Washington

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus urged Congress, as part of tax reform, to put Indian tribal governments on par with states and localities for tax-exempt financing.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that he expects the deficit reduction and tax reform debates will end with results that resemble the recommendations made by the Bowles-Simpson report.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission had no basis to approve the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's interpretative notice to Rule G-17, which spells out underwriters' fair dealing obligations to state and local municipal bond issuers, the SEC's two Republican members charged in a six-page dissent of the decision.

WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ordered two firms to pay a total of $100,000 in fines for violations of municipal security and other rules, the self-regulator announced Tuesday.

State transportation officials, engineers, construction firms and transportation advocacy groups are urging lawmakers working on a final highway bill to support the use of new tax-credit bonds to finance transportation projects.

The IRS’s new compliance practice research team will begin circulating a document internally for feedback that will identify red flags for issuers that are likely to occur over the life of a bond issue.

WASHINGTON — District of Columbia residents purchased more than $100 million of the city' latest bond sale of $314 million of income tax-secured revenue refunding bonds, which saved more than $35 million in interest expense, or more than 10% of the refunded principal amount, officials said.

The nation's governors are urging House and Senate conferees working on a final highway bill to avoid doing anything that would restrict flexibility for tax-exempt financing or have a chilling effect on public-private partnerships.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission Friday said it’s delaying taking action on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s proposed rules that would govern the activities of broker’s-brokers until at least June 22.

WASHINGTON — Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Schapiro wants to move forward with regulations aimed at improving the stability of money-market funds, despite strong opposition from industry and state and local government groups.

WASHINGTON — The American Bar Association’s taxation section has sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department urging them to update their rules and guidance on management contracts, which are important in determining that certain governmental and 501(c)(3) bonds remain tax-exempt and are not private-activity bonds.

WASHINGTON — Rep. G.K. Butterfield has introduced a bill that would curb the power of federal and state officials to toll interstate highways, just as tolls are increasingly seen by transportation officials as a key alternative to offsetting waning federal gas tax revenues for project funding.

Two members of the House Ways and Means Committee introduced bipartisan legislation that would permanently increase the bank-qualified debt limit to $30 million from $10 million and index it for inflation.

WASHINGTON — Executives of two rail organizations that rely on municipal bonds to finance some projects told international advisory firm KPMG that getting stakeholders and policymakers to buy into and embrace a cultural shift will be key to successfully financing large fast-rail networks.

The MSRB is citing almost a half-dozen enforcement actions against municipal securities firms that highlight the need for its new Rule G-17 guidance, which clarifies and expands on underwriters' fair-dealing obligations to state and local issuers.

A coalition of public finance groups is lobbying hard for House and Senate conferees working on a long-term highway bill to include a provision that would temporarily increase the limit for bank-qualified bonds.

President Obama's nominee for assistant secretary of the Treasury Department for financial markets suggested that he is willing to work with lawmakers on developing tax-credit bonds such as the transportation and regional infrastructure project, or TRIP, bonds. Matthew Rutherford has been nominated for the post after serving as deputy assistant secretary for three years.

After three weeks of listening to audio transcripts that ranged from titillating to tedious, jurors heard more taped conversations in Judge Harold Baer's courtroom in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan.

SEC members voted 3-2 to approve interpretive guidance that clarifies underwriters' fair-dealing obligations to state and local issuers and requires them to provide issuers with a host of new disclosures.

WASHINGTON — For the first time since before the recession, 29 states and the District of Columbia expect their fiscal year revenues to show modest surpluses, according to a new report.