Washington

WASHINGTON — Just one day after the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board issued a draft rule on muni advisers’ fiduciary duties, market participants are questioning the scope of the rule and whether it would apply to brokers engaged in certain activities such as recommending securities in which states and localities could invest general funds.

The Obama administration’s proposal to renew the Build America Bond program may suffer from the same problem it had the first time around, when the federal government didn’t think municipalities would use BABs that much.

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said on Monday that while he remains open to exploring how Congress may play a role in restoring fiscal sanity to state and local government budgets, he does not believe Washington should dictate public pension standards or allow states to seek bankruptcy protection.

WASHINGTON — The $3.7 trillion fiscal 2012 budget proposed by President Obama Monday would permanently reinstate an expanded Build America Bond program but at a lower 28% subsidy rate.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board issued a draft rule Monday that would spell out how muni advisers will be expected to comply with new fiduciary-duty obligations imposed on them by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

WASHINGTON — As a House Judiciary Committee panel meets Monday to hold a hearing on public pensions and the need for state bankruptcy protection, pension and muni bond experts are opposing a recently introduced bill that would prohibit them from issuing tax-exempt bonds unless they subject their pension plans to federal oversight and regulation.

WASHINGTON — House panel members on Wednesday opposed federal bailouts for municipal governments and were reluctant to provide states with bankruptcy protection, but they seemed to support requiring improved public pension fund disclosure.

House Republican leaders are calling for a bill to be introduced next week that would temporarily extend transportation programs, John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said at a conference here on Tuesday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board filed amendments to its Rule G-23 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday that would prohibit dealer-financial advisers from switching roles and becoming underwriters in the same municipal securities transactions.

WASHINGTON — Officials in the Obama administration on Tuesday announced plans to spend $53 billion over six years to finance the construction of a national high-speed rail and intercity passenger rail network.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The Seattle City Council Monday ratified agreements designed to smooth the path toward construction of a tunnel to replace the elevated Alaskan Way viaduct along the city’s waterfront.

WASHINGTON — On the eve of congressional hearings examining whether unfunded pension liabilities could trigger severe fiscal stress for state and local governments, a coalition of 10 groups representing state and ­local entities said public pensions are not in crisis and are not ­seeking federal assistance.

WASHINGTON — The Depository Trust Co. has changed the way it processes principal and interest payments for municipal and other securities, triggering revised procedures or challenges for some rating agencies, trustees and issuers.

WASHINGTON — The top Democrat on a House panel that plans to hold a hearing Wednesday on “State and Municipal Debt: The Coming Crisis,” believes states and localities need to reform their pension systems, but is uncertain about whether states in severe fiscal distress should be permitted to file for bankruptcy protection.

WASHINGTON — The House Financial Services Committee plans to examine state and local government budget shortfalls and the possibility of bond defaults in the municipal market, according to a 22-page draft of its oversight plans for the 112th Congress that chairman Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., has circulated among Republican panel members.

Five days before a House panel is set to hold a hearing — “State and Municipal Debt: the Coming Crisis?” — governors are insisting that municipal securities are among the safest investments and that states are keenly aware of the need to repay their obligations.

WASHINGTON — A significant number of municipal issuers are not filing timely or useful secondary market disclosure data, hampering the ability of investors or analysts to make good investment decisions, DPC DATA warned in a study released Thursday.

WASHINGTON — State rainy-day funds plunged by 70% or $21.3 billion from fiscal 2006 to fiscal 2010, underscoring how depleted state funding cushions have gotten as they prepare fiscal 2012 budgets without federal stimulus aid, according to a report released Thursday.

WASHINGTON — States strongly oppose Congress drafting legislation allowing them to file for bankruptcy protection, which is not needed and would actually hurt them as well as the markets, economists and a representative of the National Governors' Association warned members of the Senate Budget Committee Thursday.

WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia released its comprehensive annual financial report for fiscal 2010 on Monday as its chief financial officer warned against letting the surplus in the general fund slip further in fiscal 2012, which will begin on Oct. 1.