Washington

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee warned Wednesday that "a national infrastructure bank as proposed" in President Obama's jobs bill "is dead on arrival in the House of Representatives."

State and local government officials are applauding House Ways and Means Committee members on the eve of an expected vote to approve legislation that would repeal a 3% withholding requirement that they warn would be costly and burdensome.

WASHINGTON - Kristin H. R. Franceschi, a partner at DLA Piper LLP in Baltimore, takes over the helm of the National Association of Bond Lawyers Wednesday amid uncertainty about how the municipal market will be affected by the European financial crisis, the U.S. political environment, and federal regulatory and legislative changes.

Money market funds are supposed to be ultra-safe, but new provisions have popped up in recent years that can make it difficult for holders of variable-rate and short-term securities to interpret and monitor.

WASHINGTON - President Obama's jobs council has made transportation investment one of five priorities for accelerating job growth and improving the country's long-term competitiveness.

Kristin Franceschi practices corporate, securities and public finance law at DLA Piper. She represents clients and helps colleagues on structured financings, conduit deals, tax increment financings, defeasance transactions, arbitrage issues, and general municipal law.

DENVER - A dealer group said the issuer community must mobilize to defend the federal tax exemption for municipal securities, which has been called into question by recent Obama administration proposals.

SAN FRANCISCO - California has received a favorable private-letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service that will allow it to remarket Build America Bonds this month while keeping the federal subsidy.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to seek a cloture vote Tuesday that would limit debate on a modified version of the jobs bill that was recently proposed by President Obama.

DENVER - Almost one year after Meredith Whitney forecast widespread defaults by state and local governments, a new threat looms over the municipal securities market: the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, a market expert said here Thursday.

WASHINGTON - Fitch Ratings sees no widespread threat to state ratings from efforts to cut the federal deficit or from a slowing economy. Both, however, "present much uncertainty and risk," according to a report released on Thursday.

WASHINGTON - President Obama offered potentially good and bad news for the municipal market on Thursday.

SAN FRANCISCO - Washington State will sell $1.29 billion of general obligation bonds next week, its largest deal ever, partly to finance a new floating bridge.

Standard & Poor’s has downgraded the Cascade Medical Center in Chelan County to BBB-minus from BBB.

DENVER - Municipal borrowers continue to lag behind corporations in completing their annual audited financial reports, and state and local governments are only incrementally faster than a year ago, a new report concludes.

WASHINGTON - Two key Democratic lawmakers are urging financial regulators to protect the ability of pension plans and state and local governments to use interest rate swaps cost-effectively.

WASHINGTON - There are perceptible signs that a long-awaited surface transportation bill may actually be approved by Congress early next year.

WASHINGTON - Market participants urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to reject or delay the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposed interpretive guidance for Rule G-17 on fair dealing for underwriters, saying it would impose a fiduciary-like regimen of disclosure obligations that would only confuse issuers.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has adopted rule changes allowing it to have 21 board members on a permanent basis after the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the larger size.

WASHINGTON - As lawmakers and regulators debate improvements to secondary market disclosure, the new chairman of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board stresses it is ready to expand its role to disseminate issuers' interim financial information through its EMMA system.