Annual Report 2017

Executive Summary
2016-17 President
Clifford M. Gerber
Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP
San Francisco, CA
My term as President was a busy and productive year for the
organization and its Board of Directors. I tried to keep my finger
on the pulse of things, though it was not always easy. From addressing
pronouncements from the regulators in Washington, to
providing NABL members with the educational content and opportunities
that derive from our core mission, to enhancing our
collaborative efforts with our industry counterparts, to elevating
our game as lawyers in municipal finance, there was a lot to get
done. It goes without saying the year was a turbulent one; we
needed to stay agile and proactive while maintaining our focus
on key issues.
Among our more notable achievements as an organization:
• At the beginning of my term we submitted comments to the IRS and Treasury on management and service
contracts, which led to the issuance of new guidelines in Revenue Procedure 2017-13.
• As part of our winter meetings and for the first time, the Board went to Capitol Hill to visit with Congressional
staff to advocate for the preservation of the tax exemption on state and local bonds. Though the elimination of
advance refundings told us that we weren’t fully successful in our effort, it also delivered an important message
to the industry that we all need to stay vigilant with respect to the status of state and local bonds.
• Last spring, and then again in August, we provided written recommendations to the SEC with
respect to its proposed amendments to Rule 15c2-12 relating to the disclosure of bank loans and other financial
obligations.
• In March the General Law & Practice Committee released the Demystifying DTC: The Depository
Trust Company and the Municipal Market. The paper focuses on how DTC affects a municipal
bond financing from closing to maturity.
• Also in the spring the Board adopted a written Diversity Policy, to promote organization-wide inclusiveness
in NABL Committees, projects and panels.
• In an effort to move toward greater uniformity, NABL and SIFMA collaborated on, and completed during the first
part of 2017, a set of “issue price” documents, which the industry has by and large adopted.
• In June, after years in the making, we released a Model Letter of Underwriter’s Counsel to our
membership.
• After years in the marking, in July we released a comprehensive paper to our membership covering the direct
purchase of state or local bonds by financial institutions.
All in all, I am proud of what we as a Board – and as an organization – accomplished, and I am grateful for the advice
and counsel of my fellow officers and Board colleagues. Even more importantly, I am truly grateful to our dedicated
members who, time and again, are tireless in their participation in NABL’s projects and conferences.
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