Washington

Putting an end to the one of the most high-profile criminal trials in the muni market since the mid-1990s, two former employees of CDR Financial Products Inc. each pleaded guilty to three criminal counts in connection with bid-rigging of investment and derivatives contracts for muni bond proceeds.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to allow it to assess its muni members quarterly fees based on the par value of their reported transactions to help fund the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, despite protests from issuers and dealers.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's net assets spiked to $36.65 million for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2011, soaring by $6.89 million from the previous year as new technology and transaction fees offset a dip in underwriting assessment fees, according to audited financial statements and an annual report expected to be released Friday.

Moody’s Investors Service has revised the outlook on the University of Washington’s Aaa general obligation bond rating to stable from negative.

A bipartisan House duo has introduced legislation that would authorize up to $50 billion of tax-credit bonds to be used over six years to finance transportation infrastructure projects, mirroring a bill pending in the Senate and garnering support from lobbyists even as some question whether such bonds could overcome expected hesitancy from investors.

The Illinois Department of Transportation will receive $186 million to continue construction on a high-speed rail line linking Chicago with St. Louis, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Wednesday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has sued a Georgia attorney and his client for securities fraud over their failure to disclose the client's criminal indictment in bond documents for $2.96 million of industrial redevelopment revenue bonds sold by Raleigh County, W. Va., in 2006 and 2007 that are now in default.

The Internal Revenue Service's tax-exempt bond office has formed a seven-person team that is using EMMA and other data from the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to determine if muni bonds were initially offered at prices that raise questions about tax-law compliance.

The municipal securities market, still reeling from a handful of proposals President Obama and others offered during the last 14 months that pose the greatest threat to tax-exemption since 1986, may have a year's respite due to partisan bickering in Congress and the forthcoming presidential election, according to tax experts.

In the realm of muni enforcement, the new year will start with the most high-profile federal criminal trial since the mid-1990s, stemming from the Justice Department's extensive probe of bid-rigging.

Washington maintained its AA-plus rating from Fitch Ratings despite its difficulty in increasing revenue because residents pay no income tax, according to a report from the agency.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has launched an investigation into the Los Angeles Housing Authority, according to published reports.

The coming year could herald the most significant regulatory changes in the municipal securities market in more than 35 years.

Federal legislation modeled after the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005 that would assist states devastated by tornadoes and floods in early 2011 is pending in Congress.

Transportation officials and lobbyists will be watching Capitol Hill early next year, hoping lawmakers pass long-term reauthorization legislation funding aviation and surface programs that would bring much-needed stability to the sectors.

State and local governments will be able to issue a total of $32.821 billion of private-activity bonds under a national volume cap next year — 1.2% or $379.96 million more than in 2011.

GE Funding Capital Market Services Inc. has agreed to pay more than $70 million to settle antitrust, securities fraud, tax and other charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators and law enforcement authorities for rigging bids on at least 328 muni bond reinvestment contracts in 44 states and Puerto Rico over five years, officials said Friday.

Gulf and Midwestern states hit by disasters in recent years received a holiday gift from the Internal Revenue Service on Friday.

The Washington Department of Transportation is set to begin tolling on the State Route 520 floating bridge on Dec. 29.

Thirty-four congressmen urged Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Schapiro to exempt broker-dealers and other regulated entities from its proposed municipal advisor definition, warning in a letter Monday that the failure to do so would impose unnecessary regulation and harm issuers by reducing competition.