Washington

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.

SAN FRANCISCO — The municipal bond market does a poor job providing retail buyers with necessary information, a worse job providing them with continuing disclosure about their investments, and is an awful place to sell those investments.

WASHINGTON — Just four days after being appointed to spearhead the creation of the new consumer bureau, Elizabeth Warren has hit the ground running.

WASHINGTON — James T. Kelly, a Securities and Exchange Commission administrative law judge who presided over several municipal bond enforcement cases, plans to retire later this month after 42 years of public service, with more than 11 spent at the SEC, the commission announced Tuesday.

SAN FRANCISCO — An analyst painted a grim picture of the state of disclosure in the municipal bond market, after Securities and Exchange Commissioner Elisse Walter Tuesday kicked off the SEC’s first regional municipal securities field hearing here.

A national infrastructure bank could complement an extended Build America Bonds program, but no detailed proposal for the bank is ready to be unveiled soon by the Obama administration, officials told the Senate Banking Committee ­Tuesday.