Washington

Three groups are threatening to challenge the constitutionality of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's revised pay-to-play rule for municipal advisors.

Comprehensive or targeted reform of the federal tax code could significantly impact the revenues of most states, The Pew Charitable Trusts found in a report released Wednesday.

Oppenheimer & Co., WFG Investments, and E*TRADE were three of seven firms that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined a total of $412,500 for trading municipal securities below the minimum denomination.

Lisa Washburn, a managing director with Municipal Market Analytics, is the new chair of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts.

Muni market groups are considering changes to issuer audit processes, improvements to EMMA, and additional guidance from regulators as part of a collaborative effort to shore up continuing disclosure and prevent additional rules or enforcement actions from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Government Finance Officers Association has issued an alert urging municipal issuers to be prepared for settlement offers from the Securities Exchange Commission under its program for voluntary self-reporting of violations in connection with continuing disclosure obligations.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has plans to increase its examination and enforcement staff as President Obama announced in his budget on Tuesday that he wants to double the SEC’s budget by fiscal year 2021, starting with a $200 million increase to $1.78 billion in 2017.

Patrick McCoy, the finance director New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, was elected president of the Government Finance Officers Association.

Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. will pay $850,000 to settle securities fraud charges brought by Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander over the firm's underwriting of $39 million of bonds issued for a failed artificial sweetener plant.

Recent opinions issued by the California attorney general’s office may have some municipal advisors and broker-dealers treading carefully to avoid breaking Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rules.