Washington

WASHINGTON - A bond lawyer group said Wednesday that while issuers technically do not have to file material event notices on rating changes for pre-refunded bonds that have been legally defeased by an escrow of U.S. Treasuries, they can easily file such notices with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's EMMA system.

The Internal Revenue Service has opened an audit of $31 million of health center revenue bonds issued in 2005 by the Lebanon County, Pa., Health Facilities Authority to refund bonds previously sold in 1999 for a retirement facility.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board floated proposals Wednesday to ban false and misleading advertising by municipal advisors and require them to create written records of their advisory engagements.

WASHINGTON - The Senate Banking Committee is looking into Standard & Poor's downgrade of U.S. debt, a committee aide said Tuesday. The committee is gathering information on the rating agency's action, the aide added.

WASHINGTON - Municipal issuers who do not comply with their continuing disclosure agreements should be penalized, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board told the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday.

Standard & Poor's began downgrading municipal bonds Monday, giving market participants a sense of the broad impact its downgrade of U.S. debt will likely have on the muni market.

WASHINGTON - If dealers take advantage of disruption in the financial markets to manipulate prices of municipal securities, they will be violating federal law, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board warned Monday.

Proposed municipal advisor rules on political contributions and supervision will not become effective until the Securities and Exchange Commission finalizes registration rules and defines the term "municipal advisor" later this year, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board said Friday.

Thousands of workers at the Federal Aviation Administration and airport construction projects around the country will be able to return to work this week because of a short-term funding extension.

For the second time in two months, the Internal Revenue Service has disclosed it is broadening an audit of student loan securities, focusing on the position that student loans should not be reallocated to different bond issues.

WASHINGTON - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Thursday filed proposed rule changes with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would subject municipal advisers to similar restrictions on gifts and gratuities that already apply to broker-dealers.

WASHINGTON - State and local governments may soon face a difficult choice in the ongoing fallout from state investigations of bid rigging in the municipal securities market: cash in now, or wait and collect potentially larger payments later from antitrust lawsuits seeking treble damages from banks and broker-dealers.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board warned financial advisers to state and local governments Wednesday that certain bank loans and financings may qualify as private placements of municipal securities, subjecting them to federal securities laws and MSRB rules that apply to broker-dealers.

State and local governments who issue draw-down bonds can breathe a sigh of relief now that the Internal Revenue Service has issued new guidance for their private-activity bond volume cap allocations.

WASHINGTON - District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray has refused to sign a council-approved bill that would delay taxing out-of-state bonds until Jan. 1, 2012, warning that the use of $13.4 million of reserve funds to pay for the delay could hurt the city's credit rating.

WASHINGTON - Broker-dealers are objecting to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's proposal that they pay a quarterly fee, based on their municipal bond sales, to help fund the board that sets accounting standards for state and local governments.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., has introduced a bill allowing states to collect online sales taxes - legislation that has broad support from the business community as well as state and local officials, but so far has not attracted any Republican co-sponsors.

SAN FRANCISCO - Washington has finalized its statewide ballot measures for November and they include a controversial initiative to limit tolls, the secretary of state's office said this week.

WASHINGTON - Municipal market participants on Monday were relieved that Congress was moving toward approving a bipartisan agreement to raise the $14.3 trillion debt limit and avoid a default on federal debt, but were taking a wait-and-see approach on how the plan might ultimately affect the tax-exempt bond market.

WASHINGTON - At a meeting in Colorado Springs last week, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board voted to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission four final rules governing conduct by municipal advisers.