Washington

WASHINGTON — Muni advisory issues will continue to dominate the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board at its packed three-day meeting Wednesday through Friday in San Diego.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act faces a “serious threat” and “potential undoing” ­under Republican-proposed spending cuts, House Democrats warned Tuesday.

State officials on Friday angrily denounced reports that senators may be quietly developing a proposal to allow states facing fiscal crises to seek protection in federal bankruptcy court so that a judge could alter their obligations, including outstanding debt levels.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced Friday that it has tapped John Petersen to serve as a public representative on its 21-member board.

In an effort to prevent the Federal Reserve from bailing out state and local governments in fiscal distress, Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Tex., has introduced a bill that would prevent the Fed from buying or selling their municipal bonds.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Washington priced more than $452 million of general obligation bonds Wednesday in competitive deals that drew multiple bids, even as lawmakers continued to haggle over the state’s growing budget deficit.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission approved two sets of rules for asset-backed securities Thursday, including one that would apply to certain municipal securities in early 2015.

WASHINGTON — The Utah Housing Corp. has filed a lawsuit against two brokers — CDR Financial Products Inc. and Investment Management Advisory Group Inc. — and eight providers of guaranteed investment contracts, claiming they knowingly engaged in bid-rigging activities to artificially suppress interest rates on investment agreements it purchased for its housing bond proceeds.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service on Thursday allocated $400 million of qualified zone academy bonds to states and U.S. territories for 2011.

WASHINGTON — House Transportation Committee chairman Rep. John Mica said Wednesday that he will introduce a multiyear surface transportation bill later this year that includes Build America Bonds.

WASHINGTON — Claims that states and localities are facing massive budget gaps, unfunded pension liabilities, and health care costs that will lead to bond defaults and bankruptcy filings are greatly exaggerated, and mask the need for states to overhaul out-of-date tax systems and make other structural changes, a new report warns.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board held an informal roundtable with market groups late last week and is planning another one in September as well as two teleconferences, leading some to compare the discussions to the former Muni Council.

WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has censured and fined Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. $500,000 for failing to establish and maintain written supervisory procedures to ensure that its representatives considered customers’ state income-tax benefits in their suitability analyses of 529 college saving plans.

WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined TD Ameritrade Inc., Scottrade Inc., and Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC $35,000 each for failing to disclose the underlying ratings of insured bonds, which it said constituted material information that customers purchasing the bonds needed to know.

State and local government voluntary contributions to the Governmental ­Accounting Standards Board were $1.2 million in 2009, far less than the $6.6 ­million GASB needed to meet expenses, the Government Accountability Office told Congress in a report released Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — Voluntary contributions from states and localities, one of two key revenue streams for the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, have dropped precipitously in recent years as localities cut back on funds.

WASHINGTON — The House Ways and Means Committee will hold the first of a series of hearings on tax reform on Thursday.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is expected early Friday to propose extensive pay-to-play restrictions for municipal advisers, the first significant rulemaking proposal for advisers since the MSRB began to oversee them on Oct. 1.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission will hurt state and local entities if it adopts rules requiring their appointed board members to register with the SEC and possibly the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, market participants are warning.

The American Bar Association’s tax group is urging the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service to publish guidance confirming that bond counsels’ long-standing practices for bonds issued to finance grants comply with tax law requirements.