Washington

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.

Public Utility District #1 of Klickitat County, Wash. is going to sell $79 million of revenue and refunding bonds for its electrical infrastructure.

President Obama signed Congress's latest transportation funding extension while criticizing lawmakers for the short-term HTF fix.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board late Friday filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission revised content outlines to its qualification exams for municipal fund securities limited principals, municipal securities representatives, and municipal securities principals that will bring the tests in line with recent MSRB rule changes.

Bankruptcies in Detroit, Jefferson County, Ala., and three California cities helped spawn a new breed of activist judges, who may use Chapter 9 cases as the platform not just for reorganizing municipal debt, but also for helping set the stage for turning distressed cities around.

The Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority in Washington State is planning to sell nearly $1 billion of green bonds Aug. 4 to pay for its mass transit system and for possible refunding purposes.

The developer of the All Aboard Florida private passenger train system plans to quickly issue $1.75 billion of private activity bonds after approval of the deal.

The $8 billion, three-month extension of the Highway Trust Fund avoids a project shutdown in August.

Credits of the U.S. publicly owned airport sector and the crucial role of airport management are undervalued by the major ratings agencies despite their blemish-proof record, Kroll Bond Rating Agency said in a new report.

"Detroit's a much better credit than it was two years ago," its former emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, told a municipal bond market group.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert has become chair of the National Governors Association for 2015-2016 and has unveiled an initiative to highlight governors' innovative solutions to crucial programs.