Washington

Securities and Exchange Commission member Daniel Gallagher is calling for Congress to mandate that municipal issuers use Government Accounting Standards Board benchmarks, possibly as a condition for the bonds to be tax-exempt.

The Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission is selling $158 million of power refunding bonds tied to the controversial Prairie State coal plant, which recently won a round of fresh praise from ratings analysts.

Many bond lawyers feel that with all municipal rating agencies soon to be beaming live ratings to EMMA, the Securities and Exchange Commission should amend its rules so that issuers no longer have to worry about filing notices of upgrades and downgrades.

The Treasury Department announced on Friday that it will indefinitely suspend sales of state and local government securities beginning at noon on March 13 because of the federal debt limit.

Bond Dealers of America has tapped Steve Genyk, a managing director and the head of fixed income capital markets at Janney Montgomery Scott, as the new chairman of its board for fiscal 2015, which started March 1.

Bond lawyers are warning their issuer clients that they are operating at their own peril if they do not spend their bond proceeds in a timely fashion, since Internal Revenue Service agents in audits are raising concerns about proceeds that are spent late or not spent at all.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement division is contacting dealers who reported their own possible violations of securities laws under a voluntary enforcement program initiated last year, giving them two weeks to decide if they still want to take advantage of the lenient settlement terms.

Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has promoted its deputy general counsel Lawrence Sandor to the newly created position of chief compliance officer.

Municipal issuers’ disclosures of financial and operating data have increased dramatically, while disclosures of bank loans have been disappointing, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board executive director Lynnette Kelly said at a conference.

Large financial firms can expect continued scrutiny for risk management, internal controls and governance, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said in New York.