Washington

SAN FRANCISCO - Moody's Investors Service downgraded Wenatchee, Wash.'s general obligation ratings three notches due to concerns over city-backed debt issued to pay for a struggling arena.

WASHINGTON - The Senate failed to move forward on Thursday with either of the separate infrastructure jobs bills proposed by Democrats and Republicans.

WASHINGTON - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board would for the first time require broker-dealers to disclose to state and local governments that they are not fiduciaries and would prohibit underwriters from telling issuers not to hire financial advisors, under revised rule changes it filed Thursday.

WASHINGTON - Secondary market trading volume surged to more than $851 billion in the third quarter of 2011, the highest so far this year, but still fell 8.5% short of the almost $931 billion reached during the same period last year, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board said Wednesday.

New municipal issuance should rebound next year, given low interest rates, pent-up demand for projects, and improved finances among states and localities, market observers with the Bond Dealers of America said Tuesday.

SAN FRANCISCO - Washington anti-tax and initiative crusader Tim Eyman has filed a lawsuit to try to void the state's $519 million bond deal for a floating bridge project.

SAN FRANCISCO - Washington's treasurer will ask the Legislature to cough up $42 million to try to protect the state from the repercussions of a local municipal default.

While the loss of Internet retail sales taxes is not currently significant enough to hurt state and local government credit ratings, it could become a problem in the future, Standard & Poor's said in a report issued Monday.

WASHINGTON - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission for guidance on when a bank loan qualifies as a municipal security, officials said Monday.

The Internal Revenue Service closed its audit of $28.72 million of special assessment bonds issued by the Bartram Park Community Development District in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2005 without any changes to the tax-exempt status of the bonds.

The Internal Revenue Service is looking for two representatives of the tax-exempt bond community to serve on its 21-member Advisory Committee for the Tax-Exempt and Government Entities Division, called ACT.

WASHINGTON - The House voted by an overwhelming 405-to-16 margin on Thursday to repeal a tax law provision that would require federal, state and local governments to withhold and remit 3% of certain payments made to private contractors beginning in 2013.

WASHINGTON - Bond lawyers want Congress and the Treasury Department to allow muni issuers to current refund certain tax-advantaged bonds, even after they can no longer issue the bonds under existing tax law.

A new poll shows that a statewide ballot initiative to limit highway tolls in Washington has lost traction with voters, according to the Seattle Times.

WASHINGTON - Local government officials gathered here Wednesday and Thursday to seek support from administration officials, lawmakers, and their staff for tax-exempt financing.

WASHINGTON - In some of its 32 Build America Bond audits, the Internal Revenue Service has raised concerns about whether premiums paid for bond insurance could disqualify the bonds as BABs and jeopardize the federal subsidy payments made to the issuers, according to bond lawyers and IRS officials.

Underwriters often push municipal issuers not to hire financial advisors and, if an issuer insists on working with one, prod them to retain broker-dealer FAs, an independent FA firm warned a Securities and Exchange Commission member earlier this month.

WASHINGTON - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has entered into a ground-breaking agreement with the Internal Revenue Service under which it will provide the IRS with municipal market data and documents to help enforce tax law requirements for muni securities.

WASHINGTON - The Senate confirmed two nominees to the Securities and Exchange Commission early Friday, ensuring the agency will not have vacancies as it grapples with rulemaking mandates imposed by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Friday he will schedule a vote the week of Oct. 31 on a bill that would provide $60 billion for transportation and infrastructure and authorize the establishment of a national infrastructure bank.