Law and legal issues

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is initiating a study of the municipal market with an emphasis on pre-transaction pricing efficiency and liquidity, Securities and Exchange Commission member Elisse Walter announced Tuesday.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch agreed to pay more than $137 million, as well as to take remedial steps, in unprecedented enforcement actions announced Tuesday to settle charges from four regulators.

Chicago-based Loop Capital Markets LLC has hired James C. Johnson as its general counsel.

Putnam County, N.Y., executive-elect Vincent Leibell 3rd pleaded guilty Monday to obstruction of justice and tax evasion. It was unclear Monday who will run the county beginning on Jan. 1 when the long-time state politician would have taken office.

Christopher Melvin joined law firm Nixon Peabody LLP as a managing director of public finance with a focus on stadium and sports finance, the firm announced Monday.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board plans to propose a draft pay-to-play rule for municipal advisers by the end of the month that will mirror existing political contribution restrictions imposed on dealers under its Rule G-37, chairman Michael Bartolotta told reporters in a conference call Monday morning.

SAN FRANCISCO — The city attorney of San Francisco has sent a shot across the bow of both JPMorgan Chase & Co. and MBIA in the form of threatening letters over their involvement in the Asian Art Museum’s financial crisis.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association has upped the ante in its dispute with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board over the self-regulator’s proposal to nearly double the fees it collects from dealers, warning that the MSRB must do a better job of explaining the need for the increase.

Investors holding securities wrapped by Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. recently formed a policyholder group in an effort to negotiate a restructuring and avoid the insurer’s liquidation.

Moody’s Investors Service last week downgraded the city of Reading to Baa2 from Baa1 as the city plans to issue $36.7 million of general obligation debt this week. The action affects $68.6 million of debt. Reading has nearly $220 million of long-term debt outstanding. The downgrade is due to historical budget deficits and limited liquidity.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission has hired two attorney-fellows to double the staff in its office of municipal securities, but efforts to comply with a congressional mandate to heighten the office’s stature so it directly reports to the chairman is being stymied by short-term budget stopgaps, sources said.

WASHINGTON — Three key Republicans in the House of Representatives introduced a bill Thursday that would impose punitive action on any state or locality with a public pension fund that fails to file annual reports to the U.S. Treasury Department that adhere to a uniform set of accounting standards.

CHICAGO — Officials in Hamtramck met with the current and incoming state treasurers this week to continue to press their case for the cash-strapped city to become the first Michigan municipality to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority in north Florida has received a letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission inquiring about “disclosure issues,” the board’s attorney, Roy Andrews, said during a special meeting late Wednesday.

Gov. Chris Christie Thursday announced that the New Jersey Transit Authority hired the Washington law firm Patton Boggs LLP to help the state challenge the Federal Transit Administration’s demand that it repay $271 million in federal money the state spent on a canceled commuter-rail tunnel.

WASHINGTON ­— The central issue for Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board members gathered for a special meeting Thursday and Friday at their Alexandria, Va., headquarters is how the self-regulator will oversee municipal advisers.

VALLEJO — The Vallejo City Council unanimously approved a financial blueprint Tuesday night to exit California’s largest municipal bankruptcy in more than a decade.

Bond attorney and longtime market participant Linda Grant Williams has secured a patent on an alternative credit structure that is designed to lower interest rates on special facility bonds for ­airports.

Changes to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Rule 15c2-12 designed to both increase the quantity and timeliness of issuers’ continuing disclosures take effect Wednesday and strongly encourage issuers of variable-rate demand obligations to use so-called long-form disclosure in their offering documents.

WASHINGTON — James Hertz, a former vice president and marketer in JPMorgan’s municipal derivatives group, pleaded guilty Tuesday to three criminal counts for engaging in bid-rigging and fraud conspiracies connected with guaranteed investment contracts and other municipal finance agreements, the Justice Department announced.