Washington

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.

The House Financial Services Committee is scheduled today to begin debating the first two pieces of regulatory reform, and its vote will set a critical marker before the chamber’s final negotiations.

The Federal Railroad Administration was so swamped with applications for the $8 billion of high-speed rail funding authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that it is delaying until the winter its announcement of the grant winners.

WASHINGTON — State and local governments and development finance agencies that can currently issue bonds to finance clean energy could soon be able to make federally guaranteed loans to finance the projects.

PHILADELPHIA — The Securities and Exchange Commission cannot set up a corporate-style disclosure regime for the municipal market under its rules because it does not have the statutory authority to do so, the SEC’s muni chief told financial advisers here yesterday.

WASHINGTON — Groups representing student loan bond issuers, port authorities, and airports are asking Congress to permanently exempt private-activity bonds from the alternative minimum tax and allow all current PABs to be refinanced to obtain the exemption

WASHINGTON — Guggenheim Partners LLC wants to be the first in the municipal market to “strip” the tax credit from tax-credit bonds and isn’t waiting for the Treasury Department to issue guidance on the matter.

WASHINGTON — A Securities and Exchange Commission official asked a congressional committee yesterday to strengthen its draft bill to regulate over-the-counter derivatives so that all securities-based swaps are treated as securities. However, the request was met by resistance from the panel’s chairman and another regulator.

The National Governors Association adopted a policy opposing federal restrictions on public-private partnerships after a multiyear transportation authorization bill introduced in the House proposed creating a federal office to oversee see P3s on highways that receive federal aid.

CHICAGO — The market for tax-credit bonds created by the federal stimulus is expected to take off despite a sluggish start and remaining questions surrounding the so-called tax-stripping option, said participants at The Bond Buyer’s Municipal Finance in the Stimulus Era conference here yesterday.

Interactive Data Corp. and Pluris Valuation Advisors LLC have teamed up to provide what they contend will be first-of-its-kind daily pricing data for illiquid student loan and other municipal auction-rate securities.