Law and regulation

In an action that could affect numerous transactions across the country, the Internal Revenue Service has determined that revenue bonds issued by a New Jersey authority for the Deborah Heart and Lung Center are taxable because the borrower entered into a total return swap.

The Senate confirmed Michael Piwowar and Kara Stein as members of the Securities and Exchange Commission by unanimous consent Thursday evening.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is seeking input from market participants on whether it should collect pre-trade pricing information from broker-dealers and make it available over its online EMMA system.

Alternative trading system operator BondDesk has teamed up with market information company Fabkom to distribute bid-wanted requests in a move the companies said will help retail investors get better prices.

The Senate Finance Committee's top Republican said Wednesday that Detroit's bankruptcy filing and Chicago's pension problems illustrate the need for legislation he has proposed that would allow state and local governments to turn to move from defined benefit plans to life insurance company annual annuities.

President Obama described a pro-growth tax reform and jobs package during a speech in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Tuesday, but many of the municipal bond-related measures proposed were ones he unveiled earlier.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Tuesday named new officers and board members who will assume their posts Oct. 1.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Tuesday announced its officers and Board of Directors members who will begin their terms on October 1, 2013. Daniel Heimowitz, Managing Director at RBC Capital Markets, will serve as Chair of the MSRB. Joseph J. Geraci, Managing Director and Co-Head of Municipal Markets at Citi, will serve as Vice Chair.

For the first time, the SEC has charged an issuer, an underwriter, and one of its officials with falsely claiming in bond documents that the issuer was meeting its secondary market disclosure obligations when it wasn't.

Twelve dealer firms are asking the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to adopt further restrictions on bond ballot contributions by broker-dealers, and each of those firms has pledged a two-year moratorium on making any such contributions related to bonds they seek to underwrite.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will issue two concept releases next month, one seeking public comment on whether to develop a best execution rule and another requesting input on enhancing post-trade data reporting and developing standards for collecting pre-trade information.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is proposing a new "execution-with-diligence" standard for municipal trading that would require a dealer to use "reasonable diligence" to determine the market for a bond so the price it provides to a customer is "fair and reasonable under prevailing market conditions."

The Securities and Exchange Commission's proposal for money market funds to use floating net asset values could cost state and local governments millions dollars and force them to abandon MMF investments, market participants and a new study asserted Thursday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is urging reporters and members of the public to go to its EMMA online website for information on Detroit's bonds and the municipal securities market in general.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's recent enforcement action against Miami, Fla. signals the commission's seriousness about both upholding prior cease and desist orders and holding public officials accountable, market participants said.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board said Monday that in the wake of Detroit's bankruptcy filing, investors need to be mindful that not all general obligation bonds carry the same level of security in the event of issuer insolvency.

Dealer groups are concerned provisions of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposed rules on retail order periods could be burdensome, while independent financial advisors say the rules will be almost useless without a definition of "retail."

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association warned Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder that the approach he is backing in Detroit's bankruptcy will cost cities across the state and urged him to uphold the city's unlimited-tax general obligation bond pledge.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board launched a new service on Monday that will allow state and local municipal bond issuers to schedule automated emails that will remind them of their self-imposed deadlines for filing annual and quarterly financial disclosures.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit Friday against Miami, Fla. and the city's former budget director, charging them with securities fraud for making faulty disclosures in connection with three 2009 bond offerings totaling $153.5 million.