to comply in all material respects with its commitment to provide certain types of

continuing disclosure within the timeframes set forth in the continuing disclosure

agreement."  After this failure, these entities are said by the SEC to have none the less issued new municipal securities anyway, and failed to disclosure their previous non-compliance with municipal securities rules. 

“The diversity among the 71 entities in these actions demonstrates that continuing disclosure failures were a widespread and pervasive problem in the municipal bond market,” said Andrew Ceresney, Director of the SEC Enforcement Division. “The MCDC Initiative has brought attention to this important issue and resulted in increased compliance by municipal issuers and underwriters.”

The SEC said that the entities named in the charges settled the actions without admitting or denying the findings and agreed to cease and desist from future violations. Pursuant to the terms of the initiative, they also agreed to undertake to establish appropriate policies, procedures, and training regarding continuing disclosure obligations; comply with existing continuing disclosure undertakings, including updating past delinquent filings, disclose the settlement in future offering documents, and cooperate with any subsequent investigations by the SEC.