Washington

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.

Seattle Children's Hospital will price $118 million of fixed-rate revenue bonds today in a deal driven partly by the huge demand for tax-exempt paper.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is seeking applicants for nine attorney, administrative, and technology positions, according to notices on its website.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday for the first time charged a state — New Jersey — with violating securities fraud laws by failing to disclose to bond investors that it was underfunding its two largest pension plans.

Barclays Capital Inc. wants to patent a computer system that would generate several municipal bond indexes, but a recent Supreme Court ruling could have an impact on the application's viability.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Tuesday said it is contemplating a rule change that would prohibit dealers from underwriting new negotiated or competitive bond issues if they served as the issuer's financial adviser on the transaction.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is challenging in federal court the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the federal Clean Air Act.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined three firms $242,500 for municipal rules violations. They include $150,000 against Raymond James Financial Services for supervisory failures related to so-called 529 college savings plans it sold to clients.

For the second straight quarter a Federal Reserve Board survey suggested that the ultraconservative credit standards and loan terms put in place immediately after the crisis are beginning to thaw — though banks are still very tentative.

The Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday approved a controversial set of rule changes floated by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board that will dictate the priority of retail and other customer orders in primary offerings, as well as dealers' related record-keeping responsibilities.

WASHINGTON — Martin Kanefsky is the second broker of muni investment agreements that the Justice Department has taken action against, after CDR Financial Products, which the government indicted in October on nine criminal counts over alleged bid-rigging of muni investment and derivatives contracts.

Many states will have to revisit their fiscal 2011 budgets and may have to rearrange their spending plans due to gaps between what they expected and what they actually receive from a six-month extension of extra federal Medicaid funding.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Issuers in the Far West sold $43.36 billion of municipal bonds in 672 transactions during the first six months of 2010, according to Thomson Reuters, down from $47.12 billion in 600 transactions in the first half of 2009.

WASHINGTON — Two medical groups have asked the Internal Revenue Service to allow hospitals to be flexible when conducting the community health needs assessments required under the health care reform law.

WASHINGTON — Fitch Ratings this week released expanded global criteria that its analysts will use to evaluate debt secured by tolled facilities such as roads, bridges, and tunnels.

WASHINGTON — Dealers are urging regulators not to impose fees on them to help fund the Governmental Accounting Standards Board until after a congressional watchdog agency completes a study of the standards setter.