Washington

The Internal Revenue Service’s attempt to provide answers to frequently asked questions about Build America Bonds led to even more questions last week, as bond attorneys worried that one of the answers appeared to ban any premium on BABs sold with “make-whole calls.”

A federal judge yesterday reluctantly approved the Securities and Exchange Commission’s $150 million settlement with Bank of America Corp., calling the agreement “better than nothing,” but “half-baked justice at best.”

WASHINGTON — The total budget hole for state and local governments in fiscal 2011 is “approaching $150 billion,” Mark Zandi, chief economist and co-founder of Moody’s Economy.com, said in an interview Thursday.

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — The Internal Revenue Service plans to audit some Build America Bond issues to determine if they meet the tax requirement on issue price, an agency official said here last week.

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department Friday announced allocations to states of $1.4 billion of qualified zone academy bonds for calendar year 2010.

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Bond attorneys raised concerns last week that a Securities and Exchange Commission proposal to expedite the filing of continuing disclosure event notices, coupled with the lack of a requirement to make materiality determinations for certain notices, could pose undue burdens on issuers.

At least one Build America Bond issuer has had a subsidy payment reduced because it owed money to the federal government, and this "offset" system is entirely automated, market participants warned here yesterday.

Issuer and investor groups are working together on a voluntary framework for improved disclosure of municipal swaps and financial information, a move they say reflects unprecedented cooperation between the two market groups, which historically have not been able to reach much consensus on the need for disclosure changes.

The Internal Revenue Service yesterday published two new information forms with accompanying instructions for issuers of Build America Bonds and recovery zone economic development bonds, one of which provides for direct deposit of payments from the federal government.

The Washington Senate Tuesday approved a bill that sponsors say will allow the state to move forward with plans for a toll-financed replacement of the Highway 520 floating bridge over Lake Washington.

State and local transportation authorities in more than 40 states will receive a total of $1.5 billion in grant or loan subsidy funds to support 51 projects that range from port revitalization to toll roads and streetcars.

WASHINGTON — Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., plan to introduce bipartisan, comprehensive tax-reform legislation on Tuesday after the Senate returns from its recess.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined five firms a total of $113,000 for municipal and other trade-reporting violations. Seattle-Northwest Securities Corp. received the largest fine for muni bond rule violations: $13,000 for failing to timely report certain information from 200 municipal transactions.

The Internal Revenue Service has decided not to alter the tax-exempt status of $57.5 million of bonds issued in 2003 by the Illinois Health Facilities Authority, now the Illinois Finance Authority, after completing an audit that focused on two former board members who pleaded guilty to defrauding Rosalind Franklin University and orchestrating kickback schemes, the issuer disclosed last week.

WASHINGTON — A mileage-based revenue system to fund federally assisted transportation projects could be implemented within about five years, the RAND Corp. said in a report released online last week.

SAN FRANCISCO — After a 22-year career with the city of Seattle, longtime finance director Dwight Dively is moving on.

Primary and secondary market trading volume for Build America Bonds totaled $117.4 billion on 271,777 trades last year, according to a report released Friday by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

WASHINGTON — Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee yesterday unveiled a draft of bipartisan jobs legislation that would “BABify” four tax-credit bond programs by allowing issuers to receive Build America Bond-type direct payments instead of providing investors with tax credits.

WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Bob Corker’s decision to negotiate directly with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd on regulatory reform may boost the chances of reaching a bipartisan bill, but does not clarify how critical unresolved issues will be worked out.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission is defending its antifraud authority over certain interest-rate swaps and urging a federal judge not to dismiss its suit against two former JPMorgan bankers for allegedly making more than $8 million in undisclosed payments to secure swaps for the firm with Jefferson County, Ala.