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Who has not heard of the Bridgegate scandal?  The George Washington Bridge spanning the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York City is the busiest motor vehicle bridge in the world.  Two of three toll lanes for a street entrance from Fort Lee, NJ to the George Washington Bridge were closed for five days in September 2013.  This resulted in huge backups in Fort Lee.  As one of the individuals convicted in the incident emailed, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”
Continue Reading Bond Issue Disclosure: When Politics and the Law Intersect

Following its announcement in August that it had entered into settlements with over seventy municipal issuers in connection with the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation (MCDC) initiative, there was speculation as to whether additional settlements would be announced, or if this first round of settlements represented all of the enforcement actions against municipal issuers that…

In the first federal jury trial against a municipality for securities law violations, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on September 14, 2016 successfully obtained a verdict against the City of Miami and a former city official for violations of various anti-fraud provisions of  US securities laws.  The SEC is seeking injunctive relief and…

The SEC announced today enforcement actions against 71 municipal issuers of bonds in connection with the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation (MCDC) Initiative.  The enforcement actions follow previous announcements from the agency, charging 72 municipal underwriting firms with similar violations discovered through voluntary reporting under MCDC.

The MCDC Initiative was announced by the SEC in…

The Pennsylvania 2015-2016 Budget Impasse may be (technically) over, but it just claimed another victim.  From The Bond Buyer:

Standard & Poor’s has discontinued its underlying rating for credit enhancement programs on rated Pennsylvania school districts.

S&P announced the policy change Tuesday afternoon as an additional step to its December withdrawal of ratings based

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The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) recently published the agenda for the January 27-28, 2016 meeting of its Board of Directors.  Among the items noted for discussion is the following:

Bank Loans
The Board will discuss direct purchases of municipal securities by financial institutions and bank loans to municipal entities to consider whether the MSRB

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The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently announced that it has charged the City of Harrisburg with violations of various anti-fraud provisions of federal securities laws in connection with the resource recovery facility and other outstanding municipal bonds issued or guaranteed by the City.  The City has accepted a settlement of the charges in which…

Municipal financings are often perceived as a very complex, and even overwhelming, undertaking. The various rules and regulations which govern the process oftentimes seem complicated and difficult to understand. Keep in mind that no matter how difficult or cumbersome the process may seem, the issuance of bonds or notes by a municipality is simply the…