Washington

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s release of a final round of 14 underwriter settlements under its self-reporting initiative may indicate issuer settlement s are next.

Municipal market participants on a panel here Tuesday said continuing disclosure is improving and credited the SEC's voluntary enforcement initiative with giving it a boost. They also had positive things to say about federal oversight and rules for non-dealer municipal advisors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged 14 municipal underwriting firms for violations in municipal bond offerings under its voluntary Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation Initiative.

Registration has begun for the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's (FINRA) 2016 Regional Compliance Outreach Programs for Broker-Dealers that will take place in New York, Atlanta, Dallas, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco.

The House late Monday passed a bill that would treat investment grade and readily marketable municipal securities as high quality liquid assets under a liquidity rule banking regulators adopted in 2014. The Senate is expected to begin considering a companion bill in the near future.

California city attorneys who also provide bond counsel services may not be paid based on a percentage of a city's bond issuances, according to a formal opinion from the office of California Attorney General Kamala Harris.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will seek public comment on both how dealers should calculate the prevailing market price under its proposal requiring dealer disclosure of markups to retail customers and how it could get more issuers to disclose bank loans.

The Government Finance Officers Association is recommending state and local governments refrain from issuing bonds to finance the unfunded liabilities of health care and other non-pension post-employment benefit programs.

School and community college districts violate California law if they purposely incentivize municipal finance professionals to advocate for passage of a bond measure, said a formal opinion from Attorney General Kamala Harris.

The House is scheduled to hold a voice vote on Monday on a bill that would treat investment grade and actively traded municipal securities as high quality liquid assets under a rule banking regulators adopted in 2014.