Law and regulation

Offering document misstatements related to continuing disclosure violations has been widespread and upcoming enforcement actions will provide guidance on the Securities and Exchange Commission's views, the SEC's muni enforcement chief told issuers Thursday.

Dealers said the MSRB's proposal to extend gifts and gratuities regulation to municipal advisors should be reworked to establish uniform recordkeeping requirements for both dealer and non-dealer firms, while a major non-dealer firm said the proposal should be an opportunity to fix a gap in the existing rule.

State budgets are expected to show moderate growth and stability in fiscal 2015, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers' fall fiscal survey of states.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposal to require muni dealers to seek the most favorable price possible when executing transactions for most investors.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is seeking a legislative fix to the municipal advisor rule so that it is less burdensome for bank and broker-dealer firms, executives of a broker-dealer group said Thursday.

With the government contemplating changes to the tax exempt status of municipal bonds and investors faced with dubiously researched claims about the potential for defaults, the industry needs someone to step into the late Jim Lebenthal's role, his daughter writes.

Total tax-exempt and taxable municipal bond issuance in 2015 is expected to edge up to $357.5 billion, an increase of more than 2.7% from the $348.1 billion forecast for this year, according to respondents of an industry survey.

Securities and Exchange Commission member Daniel Gallagher wants more action on pension accounting and more staff devoted to the municipal market.

Many issuers were expected to spend Monday scrambling to finish their submissions to meet a Dec. 1 deadline for the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board plans to begin collecting and publicly disseminating certain disclosures related to municipal asset-backed securities, such as in the housing market, on its EMMA site in January.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking public comments on the collection of disclosure information under its Rule 15c2-12, but may get proposed revisions to the rule and criticism that its estimated burdens for compliance are unrealistically low, some sources said.

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts has announced the first winners of its Peter Fugiel Scholarships – Eric Reese and Scarlett Swerdlow.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority will host a joint educational webinar on rule proposals that would require dealers acting as principals to disclose to customers on their confirmations a "reference price" of the same security traded that same day.

Another issuer has disclosed its participation in the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative, a move the securities law community agrees is probably not wise.

The International Municipal Lawyers Association has filed a friend of the court brief asking a federal appeals court to reconsider its decision to disregard a qualified immunity defense for Miami, Fla.'s former budget director, warning that allowing the Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against him to go forward would negatively affect municipalities everywhere.

A federal judge wants more information on bond firms involved in a $31 million borrowing by Allen Park, Mich. that was the target of a recent SEC probe.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has unanimously approved new rules to require self-regulatory organizations and alternative trading systems to strengthen their defenses against technological failures.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve the MSRB's proposal to create baseline standards of professional qualification for municipal advisors.

Many issuers mulling whether to self-report disclosure violations under a Securities and Exchange Commission initiative will probably weigh their decisions right down to the deadline, and will not see any further guidance from the SEC, a muni law expert told market participants Tuesday.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined three firms $32,500 and expelled another from FINRA membership for violations of municipal securities rules governing pricing, transaction reporting, record keeping, and supervision.