Washington

The economic decisions municipal governments are making right now could serve as a good guide to how they might behave under fiscal stress, Public Financial Management managing director Michael Nadol told muni analysts Friday.

Any well-publicized enforcement action over whether bank loans should be treated as securities would certainly provide some guidance on this issue, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board executive director Lynnette Kelly told muni analysts meeting here.

Against a backdrop of urgency and uncertainty, transportation advocates are offering alternative revenue streams for New York's MTA.

Lawmakers who vote to raise state gas taxes don't face an irate electorate at the next election, according to an analysis in seven states. Rep. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., introduced a bill to create a National Infrastructure Bank.

The tax-exempt financing committee of the American Bar Association's taxation section is working on a paper that will identify for tax regulators modifications to tax rules that could facilitate public-private partnerships.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing general obligation refunding bonds issued in 2006 by the Clark County School District in Nevada.

Senate Democrats slam Republican leadership over lack of ideas for long-term highway fix.

Attorneys for All Aboard Florida told a federal judge that the private passenger train owners could close on $1.75 billion in tax exempt private activity bonds around June 8.

The Obama administration's proposal to create a new class of tax-exempt debt that is permitted within the context and requirements of public private partnership is a hopeful sign of a way forward in creating a new hybrid infrastructure financing model.

The Internal Revenue Service should withdraw or alter a controversial 2013 memorandum relating to the definition a political subdivision, provide interim guidance, and propose new rules that apply prospectively, the tax-exempt financing committee of American Bar Association's taxation section said.

Warning the Internal Revenue Service that its proposed issue price rules would disrupt the muni bond marketplace, increase regulatory complexity, and drive up compliance and borrowing costs, Bond Dealers of America is proposing that the agency instead make modest changes to its current rules and then enforce them.

Average gasoline consumption falls to a 30-year low, threatening revenues from the main source of state and federal transportation funding.

House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan is working on a "limited tax reform" package that could contain revenue for the Highway Trust Fund and extenders and that could be passed this summer.

An Internal Revenue Service memorandum that would render a community development district's bonds taxable should not be retroactive because a House committee last year urged guidance on political subdivisions be prospective, the CDD's lawyer said.

Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service have assigned their highest ratings to Seattle's unlimited and second-highest ratings to its limited tax general obligation bonds ahead of a more than $350 million competitive sale next week.

A second federal lawsuit has been filed challenging the private activity bond financing for the All Aboard Florida train project; the latest suit comes from Martin County, Fla.

Millions of jobs and billions of dollars in state road and transit projects are at risk unless a multiyear federal transportation bill is in place by the end of May, Senate Finance Committee Democrats warned on Tuesday.

U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli has until May 20 to respond to a request from Miami, Fla.'s former budget director that the Supreme Court hear his argument that he should be shielded from a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit.

A $967 million federal loan for commuter rail safety technology represents "a very favorable position for the MTA," said finance manager Patrick McCoy.