Washington

WASHINGTON — Two District of Columbia universities are tapping the bond markets this week in separate tax-exempt and taxable transactions totaling $145 million.

WASHINGTON — Securities and Exchange Commission officials are urging market participants to provide their views about the muni industry and how it can be improved, after the SEC was forced by budget cuts to suspend a series of field hearings that were to be held around the country.

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 87 to 13 Thursday to approve a continuing resolution that would keep the federal government funded through April 8, while Democrats and Republicans try to negotiate funding for rest of the fiscal year.

WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is developing a system that will tell its examiners and firms’ compliance officials whether firms that sold munis with material-event disclosures passed that information on to customers.

WASHINGTON — Securities and Exchange Commission chairwoman Mary Schapiro told House members Tuesday that her agency is pursuing a number of municipal securities investigations across the country.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined nine firms a total of $129,500 for violations of muni trade reporting, pricing, book-keeping, record-keeping, and supervisory rules.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., on Tuesday unveiled legislation for a national infrastructure bank that could finance up to $10 billion of projects in each of its first two years.

Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board data for recent years shows a steep decline in municipal bond trading by dollar volume but an increase in the overall number of trades.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation announced late Friday that it is opening up the $2.4 billion of federal high-speed rail money that was rejected by Florida Gov. Rick Scott to a competitive bidding process for states willing to take on new projects.

WASHINGTON — A House oversight panel will hold a second hearing on fiscal problems faced by state and local governments Tuesday, with witnesses from two major rating agencies.

WASHINGTON — A report on the Securities and Exchange Commission filed with Congress Thursday questioned the wisdom of creating an independent municipal securities office that would report directly to the chairman.

WASHINGTON — House Ways and Means Committee Democrats introduced a bill on Thursday that would reinstate Build America Bonds, the higher small-issuer limit for bank-qualified bonds, and six other bond, tax credit and loan guarantee programs.

Members of a House Financial Services Committee panel on Thursday warned that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed rules would require thousands of individuals, including some engineers and lawyers, to register as municipal advisers. That is not what Congress intended, they said.

WASHINGTON — Fitch Ratings warned on Wednesday that grant anticipation revenue vehicle bonds, known as Garvees, face heightened uncertainty as Congress struggles to reauthorize transportation spending.

WASHINGTON — The new chairman of the Bond Dealers of America, Michael Marz, takes the helm amid historic interest and uncertainty in the municipal securities market.

WASHINGTON — Representatives of the three major credit rating agencies said Tuesday they do not know of any rating analysts who were treated to expensive dinners, Broadway shows or sporting events by broker-dealers to obtain favorable muni ratings. All said they are unaware of any regulatory investigations of such alleged conduct.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has not found any major abuses from its targeted examinations of broker-dealers that were either placement agents or worked with such agents to obtain business from municipalities and public pension funds, market sources said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — In the first case of its kind, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined Southwest Securities Inc. $500,000 for paying unaffiliated individuals to solicit municipal securities business for it, in violation of Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Rule G-38.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service made about $2.9 billion of subsidy payments to issuers of Build America Bonds and other direct-pay bonds through February, Cliff Gannett, director of the IRS’ tax-exempt bond office, said Monday.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board wants to keep a 21-member board for another year, from Oct. 1, 2011 through Oct. 1, 2012, until it determines what size the MSRB should be on a permanent basis.