Washington

Far West issuers sold $48.3 billion of municipal bonds in the first half of 2015, a 70% increase from the first six months of 2014 that was driven by refundings.

A city's authority can have additional time to spend proceeds of its new clean renewable energy bonds after unanticipated events caused a "significant delay" in the proceeds being committed and spent, the Internal Revenue Service has ruled.

The municipal bond tax exemption saved state and local government borrowers about $715 billion in debt service expenses from 2000 to 2014, according to a white paper issued by the International City/County Management Association and the Government Finance Officers Association.

Susan Gaffney has been hired as executive director of the National Association of Municipal Advisors.

Smaller seaports may find it difficult to fund the facilities needed to compete with rivals that can accommodate larger cargo ships.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has censored and fined UBS Financial Services $750,000 for falsely representing to its customers that the interest on their municipal bond payments was tax-exempt when it was taxable.

The $11.6 billion set aside for a new freight-related highway projects is seen as important part of Senate's proposed six-year transportation bill.

Baltimore officials want Maryland to share savings from a cancelled rail project to upgrade the city's bus system.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced Monday it will increase its initial and annual fees while lowering its underwriting fee to better distribute costs among regulated entities based on level of involvement.

Oregon motorists seem eager to sign up for the state's new miles-traveled road fee system but Connecticut lawmakers are not interested.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked for an extension to decide whether to approve the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposed Rule G-42 on the core duties of municipal advisors.

Fast-growing Texas county forms special planning commission in an effort to block the route of a proposed high-speed rail line.

Using dynamic scoring, the Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated that legislation to extend tax provisions, including several related to bonds and Puerto Rico, would result in only $86.56 billion of revenue losses, compared to its earlier estimated $96.95 billion.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., wants to almost double current federal gasoline and diesel taxes to raise more revenue for highway funding.

The Senate Appropriations Committee's fiscal 2016 financial services bill would significantly underfund the Securities and Exchange Commission and undermine the Internal Revenue Service's ability to carry out basic functions, Office of Management and Budget director Shaun Donovan warned committee leaders in a letter this week.

The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service have included two new bond-related projects on their priority guidance plan for 2015-2016.

Trading activity in the municipal market for the second quarter of this year was 14% higher than the previous quarter as well as the second quarter last year, with several Puerto Rico bonds among the most traded, according to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

The North Carolina House puts a proposed $1.7 billion road infrastructure plan on fast track.

Higher than expected revenues gives Missouri the needed matching funds for federal road dollars in 2017.

Nat Singer, senior managing director at Swap Financial Group, will become the new chair of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Oct. 1.