Washington

WASHINGTON - State and local governments issuing new muni bonds are disclosing that President Obama's proposed 28% cap on tax-exempt interest for higher-income taxpayers, if enacted, could lower the value of the bonds or impair their marketability.

WASHINGTON - Issuers vowed to resist a draft bill that would authorize the Securities and Exchange Commission to require them to disclose primary and secondary market bond documents and direct the content and timing of those documents, saying it would open the door to unfettered regulation of their disclosures.

The Internal Revenue Service has completed an audit of $51.1 million of auction-rate securities the Orange County, Fla., Health Facilities Authority issued in 2005 for an Orlando health care provider without changing the tax-exempt status of the bonds.

WASHINGTON - Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., has drafted legislation that would authorize the Securities and Exchange Commission to both require issuers to disclose primary and secondary market bond documents directly or indirectly through dealers or others, and to direct the content and timing of those documents.

President Obama has signed the bill extending Federal Aviation Administration and highway funding.

The Securities and Exchange Commission chairman told House committee members that the agency proposed an overly broad definition of municipal advisor, while the top Democrat on the panel said the Dodd-Frank Act went too far by authorizing the creation of a new SEC muni securities office.

WASHINGTON - House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, on Thursday said the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction "is a jobs committee" that should also lay the groundwork for broad tax reform.

WASHINGTON - Transportation industry and government groups have not found a lot to like in President Obama's American Jobs Act, and they are particularly unhappy about the proposed infrastructure bank.

WASHINGTON - Dealers and municipal advisors are criticizing the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposal for a permanent 21-member board.

WASHINGTON - President Obama's jobs bill proposal to cap tax-exempt interest for higher-income taxpayers surprised muni bond market participants and was seen as a betrayal by some issuers who, according to one analyst, could have to pay about $10 billion more in added interest costs over the life of their muni bonds if the proposal is enacted.

WASHINGTON - Responding to a move by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to limit the basic broker-dealer licensing exam to customer sales, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is asking the Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to require market participants who engage in muni underwriting, trading, and other non-sales activities to take the board's muni qualifications exam, according to a proposal filed with the SEC Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - Bond Dealers of America has hired Richard Y. Roberts, former Securities and Exchange Commission member and chief of staff Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., to lobby for it on Dodd-Frank Act implementation and other securities-related legislative and regulatory issues.

Highway and airport construction projects should escape shutdowns now that House and Senate leaders have agreed to extend airport construction funding through January and highway funding through March.

WASHINGTON - In a surprise move, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board pulled five proposed municipal advisor rules that had been pending with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, following complaints by dealers and other market participants that the SEC had not yet defined the term municipal advisor. The board also issued an advisory on bank loans.

WASHINGTON - The aviation community was prepared to see House Transportation Committee chairman John Mica, R. Fla., introduce a new Federal Aviation Administration extension bill Friday, one expected to pass both houses of Congress without a battle this week. But it didn't happen.

WASHINGTON - Fitch Ratings downgraded the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority's airport revenue bonds to AA-minus from AA as it prepares to issue $192 million of refunding bonds.

WASHINGTON - Municipal market participants applauded President Obama's jobs bill proposals for increased funding for transportation and aid to state and local governments, but worried about their vagueness and whether they would actually spur job creation.

For many municipal professionals on Wall Street, the memory 10 years later of what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, is as raw as it was in the chaos following that terrible day.

Underwriters who fail to revamp due diligence and disclosure practices for bond documents in negotiated transactions are vulnerable to enforcement action based on a recent pension case New Jersey settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission, a dealer group said in guidance unveiled last week.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s TFIA — Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act — office is hiring a lead negotiator/financial policy advisor and a financial analyst.