Washington

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.

As members of Congress and the White House struggle to find a suitable replacement for, or addition to, the current gas tax that provides funding for transportation infrastructure, at least one lawmaker is floating the idea of a sales tax on motor fuels.

A day after New Jersey settled securities fraud charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission for failing to disclose to bond investors that it was underfunding its two largest pension plans, offering documents for the state's record $2.25 billion short-term tax and revenue anticipation note deal included several pages of disclosures about the woefully underfunded retirement plans.

The Congressional Budget Office Thursday upped the estimated cost of the Build America Bond program by $10 billion to $36 billion over 10 years in its new estimates on the fiscal 2010 budget deficit and economic outlook.

A group of Washington and Oregon leaders signed off this month on important parameters for one of the Northwest's biggest planned public works projects — a replacement for the Interstate 5 crossing of the Columbia River.

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in California has reached a closing agreement with the Internal Revenue Service over $22.5 million of revenue bonds it issued in 2003 to finance a golf course and accompanying facilities.