Washington

An Internal Revenue Service agent is warning the Crystal City, Tex., Public Facilities Corp. that $13.9 million of bonds it issued in 2003 to purchase a jail may not be tax-exempt because the agency appears to have exceeded private business-use limits.

John Ramsay, a former federal regulatory and industry lawyer with broad experience in the municipal and other financial markets, plans to return to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept. 20, this time as a deputy director in the markets and trading division.

State tax revenues are slowly climbing out of recession levels, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government concluded in a report released Monday.

Moody’s Investors Service is not pushing municipal bond issuers to agree to indemnification language for ratings as a result of provisions in the new financial regulatory reform law that make it easier for investors to sue rating agencies, a spokesman for the firm said Friday.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Friday asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve rule changes that would allow it to expand from 15 to 21 board members, 11 of which would be independent, public representatives not associated with securities or bank-dealer firms.

The Obama administration is calling on the Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court ruling that would allow fossil-fuel-burning plants, and potentially publicly owned power utilities, to be sued as contributors to climate change.

WASHINGTON - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to allow it to expand the number of board members from 15 to 21 for its new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

WASHINGTON — Moody’s Investors Service is pushing state and local issuers to agree to indemnify and hold it and its officers harmless for any mistakes they might make as a precondition to assigning ratings on municipal bond transactions, market participants said Thursday.

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department is considering whether it needs to issue guidance to address a potential ambiguity in the tax code that could bar issuers selling qualified energy conservation bonds from taking full advantage of available tax credits.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Wednesday said it’s considering whether its Rule G-37 on political contributions should require municipal securities dealers to disclose the names of political action committees controlled by bank holding companies or other affiliates.

WASHINGTON — The vast majority of early Build America Bond subsidy payments were processed in a timely and accurate manner during the first five months of the program, with no evidence of fraud or errors, according to a new report.

WASHINGTON — A northern Virginia county suing federal and state transportation authorities over certain environmental exemptions for planned high-occupancy toll lanes on two interstate highways has asked the court to add another federal official as a defendant.

WASHINGTON — The Regional Bond Dealers Association is in the midst of a makeover as it expands from a scrappy startup of just 14 firms into a more established industry group that continues to focus exclusively on domestic fixed-income markets.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service has told the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency that if it wants to settle a bond-related tax dispute, the settlement will have to cover all $700 million of its outstanding student loan debt.

Dealers will have to submit bidding information and program documents for auction-rate securities and variable-rate demand obligations in nine months under an expansion of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s transparency system for short-term debt, approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission late last week.

MENLO PARK, Calif. — The Southern California Public Power Authority Tuesday priced $525.6 million of revenue bonds that will be used to secure power from a wind farm in Washington State.

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — State treasurers voted Tuesday to urge Congress to extend the Build America Bond program at the current 35% subsidy rate, flouting those who warn lawmakers will only approve an extension at a reduced rate.

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — One of the Obama administration’s priorities is to get Congress to extend the Build America Bond program and federal officials are convinced BABs will remain a “vibrant market” even if the federal subsidy rate is reduced from its current 35% level, a Treasury Department official said ­Monday.

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — A financial regulatory reform law provision that would require issuers of asset-backed securities to retain at least 5% of the debt they issue is so broad that some market participants are warning the retention requirements could apply to certain municipal bond transactions.

An overwhelming majority of Build America Bond subsidy payments have been paid in full to BAB issuers, suggesting that concerns about offsets are dramatically overblown, according to new data on state issuers compiled by the Internal Revenue Service and prepared remarks expected to be delivered this morning by a top Treasury Department official.