Washington

Public officials responsible for the investment of municipal funds will have to keep track of bond proceeds when the muni advisor rule takes effect in less than two weeks, even if compliance is ultimately not their problem, according to experts participating in a California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission webinar Monday.

Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Jo White's public push for bond market transparency initiatives before year's end improves the chances of major changes affecting muni dealers and investors. The road there will not be easy.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a Philadelphia-area private equity firm with violating pay-to-play rules by receiving advisory fees from the city and state pension funds following campaign contributions an associate made to state and local officials. It is the first case brought by the SEC under its pay-to-play rules for investment advisers.

The Louisiana State Bond Commission plans to hire disclosure counsel to assist in determining if the state complied with continuing disclosure requirements as it weighs the SEC's MCDC initiative.

The market for variable rate demand obligations has contracted five of the last six years, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board said in a report released Wednesday.

The House Appropriations Committee has unveiled a fiscal year 2015 bill that would fund the Securities and Exchange Commission at $1.4 billion - $50 million above the fiscal year 2014 level and $300 million below President Obama's budget request.

A coalition of state and local groups has written a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission member Daniel Gallagher countering his recent comments about pension obligation disclosure and arguing that any problems in the area are individual and not universal.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey must determine if investors needed to know about $1.8 billion of controversial spending, securities law experts said. Others said any SEC enforcement action would not be a fix for the authority's problems.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority censured and imposed a $200,000 fine on the former Howe Barnes Hoefer & Arnett in Chicago for excessive markups of zero-coupon municipal bonds and U.S. Treasury and agency STRIPS, questionable trading practices, and supervisory failures.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association has sent a letter to numerous federal regulators arguing that the joint venture structure used for the first time last week to sell tender option bonds should be legal under the Volcker rule.