Washington

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to launch its new office of municipal securities by the end of October, chairman Mary Schapiro said in prepared testimony presented to the Senate Banking Committee Thursday.

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers early Thursday approved a stopgap measure that would fund the federal government at current levels until Dec. 3, before breaking for an election recess. Their action sets the stage for a lame-duck session during which municipal market participants hope they will take up legislation to extend Build America Bonds and other expiring or expired bond-related programs authorized by the stimulus law.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission has quietly hired the head-hunting firm Korn/Ferry ­International to find candidates to lead a new municipal securities office that will have a higher stature within the SEC.

Congress is expected to leave town either late Wednesday or early Thursday to campaign for the fall elections after approving stopgap spending legislation that would keep the federal government running in fiscal 2011, which starts on Oct. 1.

WASHINGTON — Congress should create two types of direct-pay transportation bonds to help states and localities build and repair crumbling infrastructure, market participants told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee during a hearing Tuesday.

Regulators’ heightened concern for retail investors in the muni market was on display Tuesday when a top Financial Industry Regulatory Authority official posed an alarming scenario to industry representatives in New York.

An issuer that wants to refund post-2003 commercial paper before the end of the year can take advantage of a stimulus provision that allows those refunding notes to be exempt from the alternative minimum tax, the Internal Revenue Service recently ruled.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board issued a report Tuesday summarizing the data it has collected on auction-rate securities and variable-rate demand obligations, as the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the board’s proposal to provide $10,000-per-year subscriptions for real-time data on such securities.

WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia is lowering its revenue estimates for fiscal 2010 and 2011 amid the weak economy, but it’s making sure it will stay within its debt cap, chief financial officer Natwar Gandhi said Monday.

WASHINGTON — Cook County, Ill., officials say while they are striving to improve the timeliness of their secondary market disclosures, the process of coordinating financial information among different offices and departments is both challenging and time consuming.

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said last week that it’s unlikely Congress will approve a comprehensive energy bill either this year or next.

A number of Build America Bond issuers are seeking voluntary closing agreements with the Internal Revenue Service to settle accidental violations of a de minimis premium rule, an IRS official told industry officials in Manhattan yesterday.

WASHINGTON — The combination of having at least three of the proposed 10 “industry” seats on its expanded board dedicated to nondealer muni advisers, along with the establishment of a council of advisers to bounce ideas off the board, will ensure that advisers are fairly regulated beginning Oct. 1, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is insisting.

DALLAS — Bond dealers who claim the role of market maker in the pricing of municipal securities can run afoul of regulators unless they qualify with the Securities and Exchange Commission, warned Malcolm Northam, director of fixed-income ­securities at the Financial Industry ­Regulatory Authority.

Congress last week approved a three-month extension of aviation and airport programs that will allow airports to continue to collect the taxes that they use to pay for capital improvements.

WASHINGTON — Independent municipal advisers are strongly opposed to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s draft proposal that would temporarily expand the board’s membership to 21 while reserving just three, or 14%, of those slots for advisers that will fall under its oversight Friday for the first time.

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers are expected to take up a stopgap spending measure to continue funding federal agencies after Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, before they break to campaign for the November elections.

WASHINGTON — Crumbling infrastructure may inhibit an economic recovery, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Thursday in a report that relies on a newly created index that measures transportation performance and ties it to the economy.

WASHINGTON — A public power provider can issue tax-exempt bonds to finance a wind facility even if it sells renewable energy certificates to private parties, the Internal Revenue Service has ruled.

WASHINGTON — An issuer official and former head of a governmental group strongly refuted the Securities and Exchange Commission’s claims that disclosure and accounting standards for the municipal bond market are lacking and said the SEC simply doesn’t understand the market.