Inflation Reduction Act
Senate Finance Committee Mark Eliminates Advance Refundings, Silent on Private Activity Bonds
Overview On November 9, 2017, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee released the Description of the Chairman’s Mark of the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ” (the “Senate Finance Committee Mark”), which sets forth a summary of the proposed tax reform...
SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations Issues Risk Alert for Municipal Advisors
On November 7, 2017, the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a risk alert that described the staff’s observations from over 110 examinations of municipal advisors. The examinations evaluated compliance...
Proposed Tax Reform Puts Key Public Finance Tools On the Chopping Block
On November 2, 2017, the Committee on Ways and Means of the U.S. House of Representatives released its highly anticipated proposed tax reform legislation (the “Proposed Legislation”). The Proposed Legislation deals a severe blow to issuers and conduit borrowers by...
Proposed Treasury Regulations Bring the Public Notice Requirements into the 21st Century
Recently released proposed regulations (the “Proposed Regulations”) relating to the public notice and approval requirements for private activity bonds (the “Public Approval Requirement”) – sometimes referred to as the TEFRA approval – streamline the process and recognize the prevalence of...
Hurricane Harvey – After the Storm, Disclosure Considerations for Bond Issuers
The Bracewell public finance team understands that all of our clients and their employees have been deeply affected by Hurricane Harvey, which caused billions in damage and destruction to private and public property across Texas. The scope and reach of...
FY 2018 Sequestration Reduction Percentage for Direct Pay Tax Credit Bonds Set at 6.6 Percent
According to an update released by The IRS Office of Tax Exempt Bonds, the sequester reduction percentage applied to the payments made to issuers of direct pay bonds in fiscal year 2018 will be 6.6 percent . This percentage will...
Deadline Near for Passing the Municipal Advisor Qualification Exam
On September 12, 2016, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (“MSRB”) began offering the Municipal Advisor Representative Qualification Examination (the “Series 50 Exam”). Municipal advisor professionals must pass the Series 50 Exam by September 12, 2017. After September 12, 2017, municipal...
The Final Countdown: New Issue Price Regulations Effective June 7th
The June 7 th effective date for the final Treasury Regulations relating to the establishment of “issue price” of tax-exempt obligations (the “New Regulations”) is drawing near. In fact, for obligations that are scheduled to price on or soon after...
IRS to Begin New Procedure for Initiating Tax-Exempt Bond Audits
In late 2016, the IRS Tax-Exempt and Government Entities Division (“TE/GE”) released a memorandum to its examiners outlining a new procedure for initiating audits of tax-exempt bonds. The Commissioner of TE/GE recently noted that the change is meant to create...
Public Finance Update – SLGS Window Closing
On March 8, 2017, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the suspension of sales of United States Treasury Obligations – State and Local Government Series (i.e., SLGS), effective 12:00 noon Eastern Time, March 15, 2017. New subscriptions for SLGS...
SEC Proposes Additional Event Disclosures for Municipal Bond Issuers
On March 1, 2017, the Securities Exchange Commission voted in open meeting to propose amendments to Rule 15c2-12 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 adding two event notices to the current fourteen required in continuing disclosure agreements of issuers...
SEC Announces Expedited Program to Vacate pre-Dodd Frank Collateral Bars from Non-Associated Industries
On January 17, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated in part a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) order that imposed a collateral bar against Gregory Bartko, the former CEO and chief compliance officer of a...
The New Issue Price Regulations: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Late last year, the Treasury Department released final Treasury Regulations (the “New Regulations”) relating to the “issue price” of tax-exempt bonds, effective for bonds sold after June 7, 2017. Because the changes imposed by the New Regulations generally are more...
Management Contracts Safe Harbors Revisited – IRS Releases Updated Guidance (Again)
Demonstrating the “user-friendly” side of the IRS, on January 17, 2017, the IRS released Revenue Procedure 2017-13 (“Rev. Proc. 2017-13”) (available here ) to address many (but not all) of the comments received on the rather short-lived Revenue Procedure 2016-44...