Bankruptcy

A regional business organization headquartered in Jefferson County is urging Alabama’s political leaders to solve the county’s sewer debt crisis.

A Newark, N.J., bankruptcy court Tuesday approved St. Mary’s Hospital’s reorganization plan, a move that will now require New Jersey to pay $1.5 million per year through 2027 to help meet debt service payments on state contract bonds sold on behalf of the health care provider.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is exploring whether to raise the fees it charges market participants, including for subscriptions to market data it collects.

WASHINGTON — President Obama is proposing $1.26 billion of spending authority for the Securities and Exchange Commission in fiscal 2011, a 12% jump over the $1.11 billion that the administration projects Congress will make available to the SEC for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

SAN FRANCISCO — San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said California’s second-most populous city has no need for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in an op-ed article published in the San Diego Union-Tribune Sunday.

WASHINGTON — Members of the Government Finance Officers Association’s governmental debt management committee on Friday unanimously agreed to propose a revised policy on direct-subsidy and tax-credit bonds that acknowledges Build America Bonds have emerged as a significant sector of the municipal market.

Several municipal issuers and their advisers last week criticized efforts by bond attorneys to help the SEC clarify its forthcoming disclosure guidance, complaining that it does not understand the unique sets of challenges confronted by municipal issuers and does not have the personnel to learn about them.

CHICAGO — A Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge ruled yesterday that a lawsuit filed by five southeastern Wisconsin school districts against several financial firms over the safety of an investment involving synthetic collateralized debt obligations can proceed.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday voted 4 to 1 to approve a series of changes to its Rule 2a-7 on money market funds aimed at boosting the resilience of funds during market crises, and promised to move forward with additional rules in the future.

DALLAS — A court case that threatens plans for the first nuclear power project in more than three decades headed for trial after a Texas district judge in San Antonio ruled that the lawsuit by the city’s CPS Energy utility could go forward.

CHICAGO — Menasha, Wis., must turn over public records related to the operations of its now-shuttered steam utility plant to an investor who holds $2 million of the city’s $23 million of defaulted bond anticipation notes issued for the plant, a judge ordered yesterday.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board today will begin soliciting a broad range of nominees to serve on its board amid signs that Congress is likely to soon require the self-regulator to alter its composition so that a majority of its 15 members are “public” officials.

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court Monday tossed out felony charges against five of the six San Diego officials charged with violating state conflict-of-interest laws in connection with decisions they made that led to underfunding of the city employee pension fund.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Lawyers for ousted Birmingham, Ala., Mayor Larry Langford say the former Jefferson County commissioner who spearheaded the ill-fated refinancing of the county’s $3.2 billion of sewer debt will appeal his conviction on 60 federal charges.

Three current and former executives of CDR Financial Products will stand trial next February for their alleged use of rigged bids and deception to rip off state and local governments.

WASHINGTON — Municipal securities dealers, their finance professionals, and political action committees will have to disclose most contributions they make to bond ballot election campaigns under Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rule changes the Securities and Exchange Commission approved Wednesday.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Birmingham, Ala., welcomes new Mayor William Bell to office on Tuesday, which leaves a vacancy on the Jefferson County Commission as it continues to cope with $3.2 billion of troubled sewer debt.

WASHINGTON — Market participants worried yesterday that the Obama administration’s plan to limit the size and certain trading activities of banks could adversely affect firms’ tender option bond programs, which provide money market funds with safe municipal investments.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s ruling allowing corporations to use their own funds for ads to support or oppose candidates does not appear to have implications for the Municipal ­Securities Rulemaking Board’s Rule G-37, which ­restricts municipal dealers’ political ­contributions to issuer officials, lawyers said.

WASHINGTON — A Wells Fargo & Co. shareholder has filed suit against 13 top officials at the bank, alleging they committed a breach of fiduciary duty, abuse of control, and gross mismanagement by permitting the bank to continue to participate in sale-in, lease-out transactions after the federal government warned they were illegitimate tax shelters.