Washington

WASHINGTON — States officials are eyeing $2.4 billion of federal high-speed rail money that was allocated for Florida, but is now up for grabs after Gov. Rick Scott effectively ended the state’s project by rejecting the funding earlier this month.

WASHINGTON — House Financial Services Committee chairman Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., is warning the Securities and Exchange Commission that he does not support its proposed rules for a municipal adviser registration system because they are too broad and do not reflect congressional intent.

Dealer and bank groups warned they face a regulatory quagmire with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s draft muni adviser pay-to-play restrictions because the board and Securities and Exchange Commission define terms associated with muni advisers differently and have varying sets of rules for muni and investment advisers.

With pundits predicting a "wave of bankruptcies" in the municipal market this year, experts say one thing should be kept in mind: the majority of distressed issuers undergoing the Chapter 9 process don't end up stiffing bondholders.

The Internal Revenue Service announced Friday that issuers that purchased and still hold their auction-rate securities can enter into voluntary closing agreements under which the securities will continue to exist if the issuers pay a fee and meet certain conditions.

Two professors are proposing that states and localities create a national nonprofit institution that would provide issuers with independent advice on bond financings, help them disclose standardized information, and take other steps to improve liquidity in the muni market.

U.S. mayors descended on Washington this week to combat the budget cuts approved by the House last week that would threaten certain federal programs for local governments, especially the community development block grant program.

WASHINGTON — In an effort to prevent a recurrence of past abuses by broker's brokers, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has issued a new draft rule that details what they must do to comply with pricing, fair-dealing, and transaction rules.

Governing board members of municipal entities should not be considered municipal advisers who would have to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board and comply with board rules, the MSRB told the SEC Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — State, local, nonprofit and other groups are flooding the Securities and Exchange Commission with complaints that its definition of muni adviser in proposed registration rules is overly broad and would disrupt their bond financings and other activities.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board issued draft amendments to its Rule G-20 on Tuesday that generally would bar muni advisers from giving gifts and gratuities in excess of $100 per year to individuals or entities who could influence the award of advisory business.

WASHINGTON — Supporters of the Florida high-speed rail project are scrambling to come up with options to preserve it after Gov. Rick Scott rejected $2.4 billion of federal funding last week.

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., has introduced a bill that would prohibit state and local governments from issuing tax-exempt bonds unless they meet certain pension-disclosure requirements. Meanwhile, two House members have introduced separate bills to reinstate the Build America Bond program.

The chances that Ambac Assurance Corp. will be able to keep $700 million of disputed tax refunds increased last week when a federal court in Wisconsin again threw out the Internal Revenue Service’s case against the bond insurer.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service chief counsel’s office has issued guidance that sides with a conduit issuer in Montana and a retirement home operator in a four-year old dispute over whether some of the authority’s bonds are taxable.

House members have proposed almost 600 amendments be added to the continuing resolution needed to keep the federal government operating for the remainder of fiscal 2011, including additional spending cuts that could jeopardize the Los Angeles County Metro extension and other transportation projects.

Senate Banking Committee Republicans worry Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Schapiro and other regulators are rushing to implement rules mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act without sufficient regard to cost-benefit analyses or public comments.

Proposed federal legislation to standardize pension reporting to a central repository would improve transparency and likely improve pension funding, Moody’s Investors Service said in a special comment released Monday.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority censured and fined Wells Fargo Advisors LLC $12,500 for failing to provide customers and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board with correct yield information from muni securities transactions.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $7 million of revenue bonds issued in 2007 by the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority for Confluence Energy LLC to finance the construction of a wood-pellet manufacturing plant in Kremmling, Colo.