Washington

WASHINGTON — The Joint Tax Committee is estimating that the wildly popular Build America Bond program will cost $12.5 billion from fiscal 2009 through fiscal 2013.

In her state of the state address Tuesday, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire urged lawmakers to consider new revenue to protect key programs.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration provided state and local housing finance agencies with a total of $23.5 billion of assistance under bond purchase and liquidity programs that have run their course, the Treasury Department announced yesterday.

The Obama administration is working with Congress on a multi-year transportation bill that it expects will cost between $400 billion to $500 billion, Transportation Department Secretary Ray LaHood said at a conference here yesterday.

WASHINGTON — In the biggest reorganization of its enforcement division in 30 years, the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday announced the new heads of five specialized enforcement units, including Elaine Greenberg, who will lead a unit expected to boost enforcement of municipal securities and public pension abuses.

WASHINGTON — Two environmental groups critical of coal-fired electric plants are urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to encourage broker-dealers that underwrite municipal bonds for such projects to provide more disclosure about the regulatory and fiscal changes stemming from climate change.

Seven groups representing state securities regulators, investors, and investment advisers are urging leaders of the Senate Banking Committee not to water down language in its draft financial regulatory reform legislation that would require every individual that provides investment advice to be held to a fiduciary duty under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

WASHINGTON — Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters joined a push by House lawmakers yesterday to revamp the federal transportation funding system, which currently has “donor states” such as Texas paying more into the federal highway trust fund than they get back.

The Court of Federal Claims has rejected Wells Fargo & Co.’s attempt to claim a $115 million tax deduction stemming from 26 sale-in, lease-out transactions, 17 of which involved public transit agencies, saying that the deals lacked economic substance.

WASHINGTON — Persistent declines in tax revenue continued to pummel states for another three months, making the third fiscal quarter the fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit declines, according to a Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government report issued yesterday.

WASHINGTON — An American Bar Association section is asking the Treasury Department for guidance on how to comply with stimulus law provisions designed to encourage banks to purchase more tax-exempt bonds from small state and local issuers.

WASHINGTON — The Senate’s top Republican taxwriter has introduced legislation that would block the stripping and selling of tax credits from three kinds of tax-credit bonds. At the same time, Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service attorneys are working to write stripping rules sought by muni market participants who contend they are needed to jump-start the programs.

WASHINGTON — The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority yesterday announced a financing team for $250 million to $600 million of bonds it plans to sell in the spring to help finance the Dulles International Airport Metrorail extension.

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department may not modify a planned test of proposed solid-waste bond rules criticized by market participants, but could provide a remediation process for issuers that run afoul of the test, department officials indicated yesterday.

SAN FRANCISCO — Mike McGinn took the oath of office as Seattle’s new mayor Monday, and focused his first executive actions on the city’s expected budget shortfall.

WASHINGTON — For cash-strapped state and local governments that have critical transportation infrastructure needs, but no money to pay for them, the coming year will be bittersweet.

WASHINGTON — A Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board proposal on priority of orders in new-issue retail periods would impose new standards on dealers that are confusing or contradictory and could lead to higher borrowing costs for issuers, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association warned.

WASHINGTON — The economy is improving at the national level but state and local governments face further revenue declines and dismal financial conditions that pose a risk of lowered credit ratings, market participants warned in their outlooks for this year.

SAN FRANCISCO — Citing the recession’s impact on tax revenue, Moody’s Investors Service on New Year’s Eve revised its outlook to negative from stable on Washington’s Aa1 general obligation bond rating.

CHICAGO — As the largest buyer of qualified school construction bonds, Guggenheim Partners LLC has purchased a piece of nearly every QSCB issue since the federal stimulus act launched the new type of tax-credit bond earlier this year.