Law and regulation

The Government Finance Officers Association’s executive board has approved a series of new and revised best practices that make recommendations to issuers about refundings, investing their public funds, and procuring financial services.

Municipal market analysts are concerned that Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board data shows more issuers are giving themselves 270 days after the end of their fiscal years to file annual financial information.

House Financial Services Committee Republicans have floated a revised version of a their Financial CHOICE Act that would require the Securities and Exchange Commission to review municipal market and other self-regulatory organizations' inefficiencies as well as reform its enforcement process

Mike Sudsina, managing partner of Vermillion, Ohio-based Sudsina & Associates, has replaced Larry Kidwell as president of the National Association of Municipal Advisors.

House and Senate members have reintroduced companion bills that would allow state and local governments to issue up to $5 billion of private activity bonds to finance the repair or construction of schools and other public buildings under public-private partnership arrangements.

The House Financial Services Committee intends to review municipal bond regulators and other aspects of the capital markets with an eye toward rolling back certain programs, according to an oversight plan from the committee.

Market participants and others signed up for email alerts from the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA website can now specify the types of continuing disclosure filings they would like to be notified of related to the securities they choose to follow.

Long-term municipal bond issuance is expected to fall to $417.5 billion this year from $423.8 billion last year, according to a survey released by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association on Wednesday.

Julie Egan, senior vice president and portfolio manager with Community Capital Management, is the new chair for the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, the group announced Tuesday.

Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. has agreed to pay a $250,000 fine after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority found rule violations including the failure to report accurate interest rate reset information for 251,507 variable rate demand obligation securities.