Washington

WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission will issue a proposal to revamp the money-market fund industry "in very short order," chairman Mary Schapiro said Monday.

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service is auditing the tax-exempt bonds in a number of conduit deals where the borrowers entered into total return swaps and is questioning whether the bonds may be taxable because of arbitrage rule violations, market participants said Monday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board unveiled an online toolkit for muni issuers Monday, telling state and local governments that underwriters, unlike muni advisors, do not have a fiduciary duty to issuer clients.

Regulatory priorities for the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service this year and next include proposing guidance for Build America Bonds and other direct-pay bonds, according to plans they recently released.

WASHINGTON - Dealer groups and market participants criticized the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's draft rule on broker's brokers last week, saying it would undermine, not improve, secondary market liquidity.

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.