Washington

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department’s Inspector general for tax administration has found the Internal Revenue Service’s tax-exempt bond office cannot determine if states are complying with volume cap limits for private-activity bonds.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Transportation’s inspector general is warning that at least 10 airport improvement program grants distributed by the Federal Aviation Administration under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act “may have questionable economic merit or could involve recipients that have had grant management problems.”

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board plans to soon propose revising its Rule G-37 on political contributions to require municipal securities dealers, their muni professionals, and political action committees to disclose the political contributions they make to bond ballot election campaigns, the board announced yesterday, following its quarterly meeting last week.

WASHINGTON — State and local housing finance agency officials could barely contain their excitement at the Obama administration’s unveiling yesterday of its long-awaited bond purchase and liquidity program.

WASHINGTON —The Obama administration yesterday unveiled a long-awaited temporary bond purchase and liquidity program designed to help state and local housing finance agencies that have been forced to curtail or shut down their programs during the financial crisis.

SAN FRANCISCO — Count Washington Treasurer James McIntire as satisfied with his inaugural venture into Build America Bonds, as well as the state’s first negotiated bond sale since 1997.

The National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies sent an “urgent appeal” to the Obama administration last week asking it to quickly announce a long-expected $35 billion bond purchase and liquidity program, warning that a rapidly approaching deadline could drastically limit the program’s effectiveness if it is not unveiled soon.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced Thursday that it has promoted two of its in-house attorneys.

LAS VEGAS — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is making a push to expand its presence in the nation’s health care sector by ramping up its long-standing FHA mortgage insurance program for hospitals.

The Federal Railroad Administration last week released an early draft of a national rail plan that includes alternative-financing strategies that could involve bonds.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined Morgan Stanley $90,000 for buying and selling corporate and municipal bonds at unfair and unreasonable prices.

WASHINGTON — State tax collections suffered from a record-setting decline in the second quarter of 2009, with almost all states reporting a drop in total tax revenue during the quarter, the Rockefeller Institute of Government said in a report issued yesterday.

WASHINGTON — Though legislation that cleared the House Financial Services Committee yesterday would allow any municipality to participate in a derivative transaction as long as its counterparty is regulated, a high-level Treasury Department official said municipalities are still protected because those regulated parties will have to meet comprehensive business-conduct standards.

WASHINGTON — Rail advocates are urging the federal government to partner with states to develop a national high-speed rail network. The partnership should be modeled after the Interstate highway system, and Washington should share the costs of projects and create a dedicated funding source similar to the federal highway trust fund, they told members of the House Transportation rail subcommittee Wednesday afternoon.

Washington motorists appear willing to ante up to make up for budget cuts to state parks.

WASHINGTON — Michael Decker plans to rejoin the Securities and Industry Financial Markets Association next month after leaving the Regional Bond Dealers Association, a group he helped launch and co-lead in March 2008, both groups announced yesterday.

WASHINGTON — Federal lawmakers from Texas are pushing for the Treasury Department to change tax rules that are forcing the state’s school districts to forego, or pay more for, the bond financing of infrastructure projects because they cannot access the Texas Permanent School Fund’s bond guarantee program.

The House Financial Services Committee is expected to begin voting today on derivatives and other regulatory reform legislation. The Regional Bond Dealers Association is urging committee chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., to ensure the derivatives bill will allow state and local governments to enter into over-the-counter derivatives contracts, regardless of their size or sophistication.

The Senate Finance Committee yesterday voted 14 to 9 to approve its version of a health care reform package, which would place increased reporting requirements on bond-financed and other nonprofit 501(c)(3) hospitals.

Members of Congress and an administration official said last week that the empowerment zone program, which offers tax incentives to attract private businesses to distressed communities, should be extended beyond its Dec. 31 deadline. But some business leaders said parts of the program are overly restrictive and could be improved.