Washington

WASHINGTON — State tax revenues continued rebounding, rising 3.9% from July through September in the third straight quarter of growth, the Rockefeller Institute of Government reported Tuesday.

Bond attorney and longtime market participant Linda Grant Williams has secured a patent on an alternative credit structure that is designed to lower interest rates on special facility bonds for ­airports.

Changes to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Rule 15c2-12 designed to both increase the quantity and timeliness of issuers’ continuing disclosures take effect Wednesday and strongly encourage issuers of variable-rate demand obligations to use so-called long-form disclosure in their offering documents.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $40.5 million of single-family housing bonds issued in 2003 by the Montana Board of Housing.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s expenses over the next two years will increase “at ­significantly higher rates” as the MSRB continues to expand its information systems and begins to regulate municipal advisers, the board is cautioning.

Market participants remain divided over the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's draft proposal to prohibit dealers from underwriting new negotiated or competitive bond deals if they served as the issuer's financial adviser.

Port authorities are pushing for Congress to reauthorize a five-year program that provides them with millions of dollars of federal grants.

The Internal Revenue Service yesterday released guidance clarifying that Jan. 1 is the deadline for issuers to receive tax benefits on “draw-down bonds” that are eligible for temporary bond programs, including Build America Bonds.

WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia expects to issue $522.4 million of Build America Bonds before the end of the year. The capital city is planning to use the general obligation credit for the first time in two years in one of the deals to maximize the BABs savings.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers is warning the Securities and Exchange Commission that applying its asset-backed securities rules to municipal bonds, as proposed, would violate existing law and run contrary to congressional intent.

The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency disclosed Friday that it is complying with an additional information request from the Internal Revenue Service as part of the IRS’ ongoing review of the agency’s student-loan bonds.

WASHINGTON — The National Association of Bond Lawyers is warning the Securities and Exchange Commission that applying its asset-backed securities rules to municipal bonds, as proposed, would violate existing law and run contrary to congressional intent.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Washington state economist Arun Raha made life difficult for state budget writers last week by cutting more than $1 billion from his forecast for general fund revenue.

California, New York, and Illinois are making a play for more than $1.2 billion of high-speed rail funding that was awarded to two Midwestern states whose Republican governors-elect plan to reject the grants.

States and localities pay for a much larger share of transportation and water infrastructure projects than the federal government, but in recent years the total amount of money spent on these projects by all levels of government has declined significantly, according to a 62-page report issued this week by the Congressional Budget Office.

WASHINGTON — Henry T.C. Hu, the head of a relatively new risk division at the Securities and Exchange Commission who provided analysis on municipal and other financial markets, plans to leave the SEC and return to the University of Texas early next year, the commission announced Thursday.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s proposed guidance for broker’s brokers would force them to go beyond the board’s existing rules, would be inconsistent with their limited roles in the market, and would impede the efficiency of the interdealer market, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association warned the MSRB this week.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $63.2 million of Build America Bonds that a school district in Finney County, Kan., issued in mid-2009 to finance a new high school and an addition to an elementary school, according to the district’s chief financial officer.

WASHINGTON — The ­Securities and Exchange Commission would violate the Tower Amendment and the principles of federalism if it applies its proposed rules on asset-backed securities to municipal bonds, 14 market groups warned this week.

WASHINGTON — Airport executives made one more attempt this week to convince Senate tax lawmakers to extend two popular bond-financing provisions beyond the end of this year so that airports can continue to borrow at lower rates.