Bankruptcy

SAN FRANCISCO — The tangled tale involving bonds issued for the failed Copia “wine shrine” in Napa, Calif., could reach a major turning point later this month when a bankruptcy judge will consider confirming a plan to conclude the museum’s almost 11-month-old bankruptcy case.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Two appeals now have been filed contesting a Florida judge’s decision to validate $650 million of certificates of participation sought by the South Florida Water Management District to finance the purchase of U.S. Sugar Corp.’s land for Everglades restoration.

WASHINGTON — A Securities and Exchange Commission official asked a congressional committee yesterday to strengthen its draft bill to regulate over-the-counter derivatives so that all securities-based swaps are treated as securities. However, the request was met by resistance from the panel’s chairman and another regulator.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Los Angeles World Airports Board of Directors on Monday agreed to a $75 million settlement with bondholders in a seven-year-old dispute over United Airlines special facilities revenue bonds sold to make improvements at Los Angeles International Airport.

The House Financial Services Committee late Friday distributed a discussion draft of legislation to regulate over-the-counter derivatives that appears to be substantially similar to one floated by the Obama administration this summer. The move left unresolved technical glitches that render meaningless a provision intended to restrict small municipalities from participating in derivatives transactions, attorneys said yesterday.

SAN FRANCISCO — If there was any doubt before, it was removed Thursday by the California Supreme Court: the state’s current budget is out of balance.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board could bring in roughly $2 million in additional revenue from a rule change proposed this week that would eliminate the exemptions on underwriting fees for most short-term municipal securities, the board’s spokesperson said yesterday.

WASHINGTON — Moody’s Investors Service conducts “virtually no surveillance” of its municipal bond ratings, despite its claims to the public and Congress that it robustly monitors all the securities it rates, a former chief compliance officer warned the Securities and Exchange Commission in a March letter.

DALLAS - A legal dispute over a riverside parcel of land in downtown Baton Rouge should not deter voters from approving bonds that would finance a large tourist attraction planned for the site, East Baton Rouge Parish officials said Monday.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians in Florida has said that it will appeal last month's circuit court validation of $650 million of certificates of participation requested by the South Florida Water Management District to purchase land that will help restore the Everglades.

CHICAGO — A group of investors who hold a piece of Menasha’s $24 million of city appropriation-backed steam plant revenue bond anticipation notes allege in a federal lawsuit filed earlier this month that the Wisconsin city committed fraud in misrepresenting its intent to repay the now-defaulted notes.

WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission should require credit rating agencies, rather than issuers, to send rating information about municipal securities directly to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's EMMA system, issuers and bond attorneys argued last week.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Jefferson County, Ala., officials now say they are seeking a $25 million line of credit from Regions Bank to bolster government operations and return laid off employees to work.

WASHINGTON - Four months after members of the House Financial Services Committee introduced four pieces of municipal bond-related legislation, only two are expected to move forward this fall and the other two are likely to languish.

WASHINGTON - House lawmakers yesterday easily approved a bill that would extend funding for highways and other surface transportation by three months, after some controversy, as well as a measure to extend funding for airports for the same period of time.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board plans later this year and next to host two compliance seminars with the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, as well as a series of Web seminars on the board's market information programs.

CHICAGO - Iowa Gov. Chet Culver has suspended the state's film tax-credit program and asked the state auditor and attorney general to assist in a review after an audit found lax oversight had allowed producers to claim credits for unqualified expenses, raising questions over the value of the program as the state seeks to remain in the black.

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal judge is pushing the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle its case against five former San Diego officials accused of securities fraud for failing to disclose growing unfunded pension liabilities to municipal bond investors.

CHICAGO — The Ohio Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Gov. Ted Strickland’s budget-balancing plan to install video lottery terminals at the state’s race tracks must go to voters.

SAN FRANCISCO — California Attorney General Jerry Brown yesterday said he has issued subpoenas to the three major rating agencies as part of an investigation into whether they violated state law by giving high ratings to subprime mortgage-backed securities and other complicated debt instruments that proved to be worthless as the housing market bubble burst.