Washington

The city of Harvey, Ill., has agreed to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it misled bond investors by diverting proceeds away from the projects for which they were intended.

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.

On Wednesday morning the FBI arrested an official in the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority.

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

A beleaguered Victorville, Calif. airport authority notified bondholders in a filing that it expected to default for the seventh time on bonds it issued to redevelop the airport from military to civilian use.

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.