Washington

WASHINGTON — The Regional Bond Dealers Association has retained the law firm of Nixon Peabody LLP to help it develop legislative and regulatory strategies and proposals for municipal bonds and fixed-income products. The group plans to hire two lobbyists and policy analysts later this year, Mike Nicholas, RBDA’s chief executive officer said yesterday.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board yesterday filed a new rule with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would allow it to collect a flat $60 “development fee” on examinations taken by municipal securities representatives and principals, as well as muni fund securities “limited principals,” to demonstrate competence in their areas of work.

WASHINGTON — The American Bar Association Section of Taxation sent a report to Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service officials last week outlining its thoughts on various issues tied to stripping the tax credits from tax-credit bonds and selling them separately.

WASHINGTON — The United States faces an immense challenge with an economy expected to be $2 trillion smaller than what it should be over the next five years and growing unemployment that is likely to last “for at least some time,” according to Felix Rohatyn, the veteran investment banker who helped save New York City from bankruptcy in the 1970s.

DALLAS — The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program is likely here to stay, though it is unclear how much funding it will receive in the future, federal officials said here yesterday.

WASHINGTON — Michael Mundaca, President Obama’s nominee to become the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary of tax policy, told the Senate Finance Committee yesterday that the Build America Bonds program is “too successful to simply allow it to expire.”

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission announced yesterday that it has settled securities fraud and other charges against JPMorgan Securities Inc. and is pursuing charges against two of the firm’s former managing directors, Charles LeCroy and Douglas MacFaddin, in connection with muni bond and swap transactions done with Jefferson County, Ala.

The House Financial Services Committee yesterday voted 41 to 28 to approve a bill that would require financial advisers in the municipal market to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and direct the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to have a majority of public members.

WASHINGTON — Treasury Department officials are warning state and local housing finance agencies that the Obama administration’s recently unveiled temporary bond purchase program is oversubscribed and that agencies will likely receive less assistance than they requested as a result.

WASHINGTON — Two prominent industry groups are raising strong objections to draft changes the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board proposed for its Rule G-37 on political contributions that would require dealer-affiliated banks and bank holding company political action committees to disclose the contributions they make to issuer officials.

WASHINGTON — Court documents filed in class action and other lawsuits by issuers’ lawyers who were briefed by attorneys at Bank of America — the one firm that is cooperating with the Justice Department’s antitrust probe in return for indemnity from criminal charges — present a disturbing picture of alleged widespread collusion between dozens of firms involved with municipal investment contracts and derivatives.

WASHINGTON — A large local school district that cannot issue the qualified school construction bonds the Internal Revenue Service allocated to it will lose the allocation unless it transfers it to the state, which can then carry it forward indefinitely, an IRS attorney said last week.

The federal grand jury's indictment against Beverly Hills-based CDR Financial Products Inc., its founder David Rubin, and current and former officials at the firm for allegedly rigging bids for investment and derivatives contracts in return for kickbacks could be just the tip of the iceberg, market participants said yesterday.

States will struggle with finances in fiscal 2011 just as much as they have this fiscal year and last fiscal year, panelists said at a meeting here Friday sponsored by Tax Analysts.

A major component of the compliance questionnaire the Internal Revenue Service plans to send to issuers of Build America Bonds will examine how issuers are complying with the rule that all BAB project proceeds go towards capital expenditures, an IRS official said here Friday.

WASHINGTON — Congress last night was poised to approve a second stopgap measure to fund the federal government, including transportation and bond-related programs, for another seven weeks.

PHOENIX — The issue of how much information should be disclosed for certain variable-rate demand obligations has put the National Association of Bond Layers at loggerheads with the Securities and Exchange Commission staff for years. The ongoing dispute boiled over once again during NABL’s Bond Attorneys Workshop here this week.

PHOENIX — Any state or local government that issues Build America Bonds in the next fiscal year can expect to receive a compliance query from the Internal Revenue Service, according to Clifford Gannett, director of its tax-exempt bond office.

WASHINGTON — Some municipal issuers and their advocates yesterday came out swinging against the Securities and Exchange Commission.

WASHINGTON — Financial advisers in the municipal market would have to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission under an amendment added to the Investor Protection Act of 2009 yesterday by House Financial Services Committee members.