Washington

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday released his nearly $47 billion 2017–19 budget proposal.

Martin and Indian River counties have asked a federal judge to examine the new bond financing strategy employed by All Aboard Florida to determine the "full extent" of the proposal and its impact on their federal lawsuits.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will not bring any more settlements under its Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative and will instead focus on those underwriters and issuers that did not voluntarily disclose violations under the MCDC.

The Illinois Regional Transportation Authority Thursday will consider a $3 billion operating budget and $5.1 billion five-year capital plan that boosts spending next year but still falls far short of its needs as a new state capital program languishes amid the ongoing budget impasse.

While Puerto Rico is at a crossroads, it must file for restructuring as soon as possible and work with the federal government to help resolve the commonwealth’s fiscal crisis, said outgoing Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla.

MultiCare Health System, a not-for-profit health system based in Tacoma, Wash., has reached a deal to purchase the for-profit Rockwood Health System for $425 million and will finance a large portion of it with bonds.

The president-elect would finance his trillion dollar plan through tax credits, bypassing state and local governments, and may move to tax the interest on their municipal bonds.

A proposed continuing resolution that would fund federal programs and services through April 28, 2017, and a long-awaited bipartisan water bill would provide about $170 million For Flint, Mich., and other water infrastructure health initiatives.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association wants bank regulators to avoid adopting harsh international capital standards for trading that could have a chilling effect on the municipal market and hurt liquidity.

The MSRB issued interpretive guidance on how its rules apply to accounts that are fully managed by a registered investment advisor that is also a sophisticated municipal market professional.

WASHINGTON – Capping the tax exemption for municipal bonds over a nine-year period would have cost state and local governments roughly $175 billion in additional borrowing costs, while a full repeal would have cost them nearly $500 billion more, state and local officials warned Tuesday.

The District of Columbia next week will issue $577.6 million in general obligation bonds partly to finance projects under the district's capital improvements plan.

Republicans this week said they are working toward a continuing resolution to fund the federal government through March 31 instead of a full-year appropriations bill, a decision that disappointed Democrats and several GOP members.

Self-driving vehicles could be the ticket for replacing the fuel tax as the main road funding mechanism, accord to transportation experts.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced on Thursday that starting on Feb. 27, academic institutions will be able to request one-year data sets from a new data product that would identify dealers in some way without naming them.

The city of Mobile, Ala., has agreed to pay an undisclosed sum of money to the Internal Revenue Service to maintain the tax-exempt standing of $63.4 million of general obligation refunding and improvement warrants it issued in 2006.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board wants to amend its proposal to require dealers to disclose their markups and markdowns in certain transactions by lengthening its implementation timeline and clarifying provisions that market participants have criticized.

Transit advocates want Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan to drop search for high-tech ways to unclog congestion.

Issuers, borrowers, and MAs disagree that they violated state and local government series securities (SLGS) rules.

Voters approved more than $200 billion of bonds, tax extensions, and new revenues for roads and transit.