Bankruptcy

The Harrisburg City Council Tuesday night tabled two nominees to the Harrisburg Authority’s board, continuing a political standoff with the mayor that has left the board without a quorum and bondholders with an uncertain future.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — A bill designed to make it harder for California local governments and agencies to file for bankruptcy cleared a key committee Tuesday afternoon.

Dealers will have to submit bidding information and program documents for auction-rate securities and variable-rate demand obligations in nine months under an expansion of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s transparency system for short-term debt, approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission late last week.

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — A financial regulatory reform law provision that would require issuers of asset-backed securities to retain at least 5% of the debt they issue is so broad that some market participants are warning the retention requirements could apply to certain municipal bond transactions.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Securities and Exchange Commission is recommending that Jefferson County, Ala., receive a $25 million disgorgement and civil penalty that JPMorgan paid into an SEC “fair fund” designed to compensate harmed investors and issuers.

A Pinal County group is seeking to recall District 2 Supervisor Bryan Martyn over his approval last month of a $33.5 million county bond issue.

Some California cities may have their bond-issuing abilities limited by a bill introduced last week by lawmakers responding to the crisis in Bell, where freewheeling financial policies have resulted in the resignations of three city officials.

Many California government employees are off without pay today, after the state Supreme Court said that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could implement his order furloughing workers for three Fridays per month.

U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel told attorneys in the corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to be back in court Aug. 26 to set a date for a new trial.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday for the first time charged a state — New Jersey — with violating securities fraud laws by failing to disclose to bond investors that it was underfunding its two largest pension plans.

Central Falls, R.I., plans to sell $2.1 million of deficit bonds to balance its budget under an austerity plan released by its state-appointed receiver Wednesday.

The Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority could deplete its debt-service reserve in the current fiscal year, which could result in a payment default next July, Florida Department of Transportation officials said Wednesday.

Jefferson County commissioners last week hired Warren, Averett, Kimbrough & Marino LLC to audit fiscal year 2008, which ended Sept. 30, 2008.

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley signed an executive order last week capping compensation for lawyers representing the state just hours before Attorney General Troy King filed two lawsuits against BP PLC and other companies for negligence in the Gulf oil disaster.

Barclays Capital Inc. wants to patent a computer system that would generate several municipal bond indexes, but a recent Supreme Court ruling could have an impact on the application's viability.

The looming foreclosure on a downtown Cleveland landmark could have implications for tax increment financing debt sold for the project and TIF-backed borrowings across the state and nationally, say some Ohio bond attorneys.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Tuesday said it is contemplating a rule change that would prohibit dealers from underwriting new negotiated or competitive bond issues if they served as the issuer's financial adviser on the transaction.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is challenging in federal court the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the federal Clean Air Act.

Federal prosecutors late Tuesday afternoon said they would likely retry former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich after a jury was able to reach a unanimous verdict on only one of 24 counts brought against him.

Fitch Ratings dropped its ratings on Bell to junk Tuesday, as the small Southern California city continued to reel from its unusual financial practices, which included paying a former city administrator almost $800,000 a year.