The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the settlement of its fraud case against a New Orleans-based auditing firm and its principal. The firm and its principal were charged with violating antifraud securities...more
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (“MSRB”) is implementing changes to login accounts for its Electronic Municipal Market Access System (“EMMA”) that may affect issuers and other obligors making continuing disclosure...more
The Financial Data Transparency Act of 2022 (Act) will change the way issuers and obligors of municipal securities report required disclosure information on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s Electronic Municipal...more
One of the primary purposes of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) is to ensure that the investing public obtains accurate, timely and comprehensive information with respect to publicly-traded securities. The...more
Governmental entities have increasingly experienced cybersecurity incidents impacting their operations and finances over the last few years, with some breaches costing upwards of $40 million. Many issuers and borrowers of...more
The municipal securities market carried its momentum from the first half of 2021 into a strong finish for the year against the backdrop of continued regulatory and enforcement actions. Despite new variants of COVID-19...more
The Disclosure Industry Working Group reminds issuers that applicable filing deadlines have not been extended by either the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and encourages...more
On May 4, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) released a public statement from Chairman Jay Clayton and Rebecca Olsen, Director of the SEC’s Office of Municipal Securities (“OMS”), titled, “The...more
On May 4, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton and Rebecca Olsen, Director of the SEC’s Office of Municipal Securities, issued a statement entitled “The Importance of Disclosure for our Municipal Markets”1...more
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local government issuers of securities, and others generally obligated to support the payment of such securities, who entered into continuing disclosure undertakings or...more
The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting municipal borrowers, including state and local governmental entities and conduit borrowers, as unexpected expenses grow and expected revenue declines as a result of stay-at-home and other...more
Given the far-reaching consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, including unprecedented financial and operational impacts, volatile municipal market conditions and the potential for a significant economic contraction...more
As state and local governments confront the financial and operating strains imposed by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, investors in the debt obligations of such governmental entities (referred to as municipal issuers) are...more
Our thoughts are with you, your loved ones and organizations as we all navigate this public health crisis together. We are providing this alert to our public finance clients and other professionals regarding COVID-19 and its...more
Is information posted on EMMA subject to greater scrutiny under the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws than when posted only on an issuer’s website?...more
If some or all of your District’s outstanding bonds are guaranteed by the Washington State (the “State”) School Bond Guarantee Program, it is time to post an event notice to the affected bonds on EMMA (or to verify the...more
A bipartisan bill introduced on May 21, 2019 in the U.S. Senate seeks to prepare America’s employers and workers for the 21st century economy by establishing a national Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy and investing $2.2...more
An MSRB infographic announcing the plans states that the enhancements include “creating a more user-friendly and streamlined document submission experience,” “developing a seamless navigation to tools and resources on EMMA,”...more
A new federal regulation taking effect soon will increase the burden of compliance with federal securities law on issuers of tax-exempt securities. ...more
Introduction - Over the past several years, local government issuers have increasingly been privately placing bonds and other municipal debt obligations directly with banks or other purchasers rather than utilizing an...more
As reported in our October 10, 2018 alert, the Securities and Exchange Commission has amended Rule 15c2-12 (the "Rule"), which governs continuing disclosure by state and local governmental borrowers to add two new material...more
On August 20, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission amended Rule 15c2-12 to add two events to the list of notice events included in continuing disclosure undertakings by issuers, or other obligated individuals....more
Beginning February 27, 2019, municipal market issuers and obligated persons must add the following two new events—relating to their indebtedness and financial health—to the list of reportable events in their continuing...more
On August 20, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued Release No. 34-83885 (the “Release”) adding two new events (the “New Events”) to the list of events that must be included in the continuing disclosure...more
Recent Rule 15c2-12 Amendments - The Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) on August 20, 2018, announced that it has adopted amendments (the 2018 Amendments) to Rule 15c2-12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934....more