Washington

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s draft rule on gifts and gratuities could shut down muni advisers, the municipal market’s largest financial adviser is ­warning.

The top tax-writing lawmakers said Wednesday that while a debate about the tax-exempt status of state and local bonds will certainly be in the mix as part of a broader tax-reform debate, it is too early in the discussion to delve into specific issues.

SAN FRANCISCO — Wenatchee, Wash., finds itself on the hook for a hockey arena that didn’t pencil out the way consultants said it would.

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers on Tuesday moved forward with two legislative efforts to overhaul the U.S. tax code, which would either halt, or threaten, tax-exemption for new muni bonds.

WASHINGTON — Independent financial advisers are criticizing the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s draft changes to its rule on gifts and gratuities, warning they don’t go far enough to eliminate conflicts of interest.

The Internal Revenue Service has closed an audit of about $300 million of Series A special tax bonds issued by the Ernest N. Morial-New Orleans Exhibition Hall Authority in 2003 to help finance a convention center expansion.

WASHINGTON — The federal debt limit must be increased by May 16 or the Treasury Department will have to take extraordinary measures, such as suspending the sale of state and local government series securities to muni issuers, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Monday.

WASHINGTON — A congressional research report has underscored the high cost of tax-exempt debt to the federal government just as some members of Congress are weighing whether to propose curbs on such debt.

WASHINGTON — Architects are urging lawmakers to reinstate the Build America Bond program.

NEW YORK — The municipal securities market is beset by problems that defy easy solutions, academics and experts told municipal analysts Friday.

WASHINGTON — Market participants are questioning why Sen. Ron Wyden is drafting legislation that would create a new type of tax-credit bond for transportation projects, warning there is not much of a market for tax-credit bonds.

Municipal bond issuers and underwriters should review all documents related to their pension disclosures, even those that were not prepared with disclosure in mind, an attorney told muni market participants Friday.

WASHINGTON — Self-regulatory officials may assess fees on municipal advisers based on their advisory activity and are focused on disclosure to retail muni investors.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $21 million of variable-rate general obligation bonds that were issued in 2005 by the Spring Grove Area School District in Pennsylvania to finance school projects, but were redeemed in 2009.

WASHINGTON — A former municipal derivatives trading desk manager at Banc of America Securities LLC has pleaded guilty to one criminal count of engaging in a conspiracy to falsify bank records in connection with a scheme to rig bids and pay kickbacks for investment agreements and other financial contracts in the muni market.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Ron Wyden’s plans for transportation financing legislation are now focused on tax-credit bonds instead of a scaled-down version of Build America Bonds.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a proposed rule that would exempt municipal securities from credit-risk retention requirements imposed in the wake of the financial crisis.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $100 million of general obligation bonds that the Reading School District in Berks County, Pa., issued in 2005 to finance school construction and improvements.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Washington Treasurer James McIntire has thrown his support behind a proposal to reduce the state’s constitutional debt limit and revise the formula used to calculate it.

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress need to suspend their political squeamishness on tax increases and allow the Bush-era tax cuts to expire in 2012 if they are serious about federal deficit reform, a research group reported Thursday.