Washington

The Securities and Exchange Commission is arguing it can't fight a lawsuit challenging a revised rule to curb municipal securities pay-to-play activity because the fiscal 2016 appropriations act prohibits it from spending money on any rules governing political contributions.

California Treasurer John Chiang announced that municipal finance firms seeking state business will be required to certify that they will make no contributions to local bond election campaigns in the state.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board wants to cut in half a proposed requirement that would have mandated municipal securities transactions be closed out within 20 days of settlement after dealer groups urged the self-regulator to do so.

The town of Ramapo, N.Y. and one of four individuals charged with securities fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission for misleading muni bond investors are disputing the charges and urging a federal judge to dismiss the case.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is aiming to make progress on a number of high-profile projects during its board meeting next week including markup and bank loan disclosure as well as a new municipal advisor complaint system and plans to improve EMMA.

Municipal market participants are criticizing as too low the $50,000 fine that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority imposed on Dougherty & Co. after finding the firm served as an underwriter for 54 issuers with which it had ongoing “blanket” financial advisory agreements.

Elaine Greenberg, the former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s municipal enforcement unit, has joined Greenberg Traurig’s Washington D.C. office as a shareholder, the firm announced Tuesday.

Republicans delegates adopted a 2016 platform at their national convention in Cleveland that supports statehood for Puerto Rico, but not for the District of Columbia. The GOP also wants to abolish the Internal Revenue Service, overhaul the federal tax code, and expand the use of P3s for infrastructure projects.

Dougherty & Co. was hit with the largest Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fine of its kind in recent years after the firm agreed to pay $50,000 for serving as an underwriter for 54 issuers with which it had ongoing "blanket" financial advisory agreements.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is providing some new information about muni trades on its Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA) system.