Bankruptcy

DALLAS - Amid a flurry of scandals and investigations involving bond transactions, New Mexico Lieut. Gov. Diane Denish is pushing new ethics legislation as she seeks to escape the tarnished image of Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson.

BRADENTON, Fla. - A Florida judge yesterday began a two-day bond validation hearing in the ongoing case in which the South Florida Water Management District wants to purchase U.S. Sugar Corp. land for $536 million.

SAN FRANCISCO - As California gets closer to the half-billion-dollar mark in outstanding IOUs, the state's leading budget negotiators resumed communications over the weekend, though hours of meetings left more to be resolved.

Supporters of municipal market reforms are worried that the Securities and Exchange Commission appears to be backtracking from earlier calls for widespread legislative and regulatory changes to disclosure and accounting standards, instead favoring a much more modest set of draft regulatory reforms which it will consider at a meeting tomorrow.

WASHINGTON - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board issued guidance on Friday warning broker-dealers of the muni rules that they need to comply with when selling or trading California IOUs.

WASHINGTON - Broker-dealer counterparties of municipal interest rate swaps and other customized over-the-counter derivative contracts would have to meet much higher capital and margin requirements than for standardized derivatives contracts under the Obama administration's regulatory reform proposals, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told lawmakers Friday.

DALLAS — A former New Mexico state representative accused of misusing $300,000 from an affordable housing bond issue is awaiting trial along with three other executives after a lengthy investigation by the attorney general’s office.

A bill that would have made it tougher for California municipalities to declare bankruptcy stalled in the state Senate this week.

WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday published rule changes that would make money market funds less susceptible to market turmoil and runs by investors, and asked for public comments on the proposals to be submitted by Sept. 8.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Jefferson County, Ala., disclosed what is believed to be the county's first missed payment to owners of its sewer warrants after defaulting on $46 million of accelerated principal that was due last week.

As California officials begin to issue as much as $3.2 billion of IOUs, there is growing interest in whether the registered warrants should be considered securities or some other type of state obligation.

Kutak Rock LLP last month hired Jeffrey Blumenfeld in its Philadelphia office.

BRADENTON, Fla. - A federal judge in Birmingham late Monday said that Jefferson County, Ala.'s bond insurers and trustee are free to file suit July 20 in state court seeking to have a receiver take over the county's financially troubled sewer system.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Standard & Poor's Monday continued its negative watch on Jefferson County, Ala.'s outstanding debt, though not including the county's troubled sewer bonds.

Employees of a joint-venture broker-dealer, who previously worked for and remain "associated persons" with the two legacy firms that created and control the joint venture, may solicit municipal securities business on behalf of each of their legacy firms without triggering Rule's G-38 prohibition against broker-dealers using independent consultants, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board said in recent guidance.

WASHINGTON - Moody's Investors Service has placed $2.2 billion of the Maryland Community Development Administration's Aa2-rated residential revenue bonds on watch for a possible downgrade.

SAN FRANCISCO - Fitch Ratings downgraded California's general obligation bonds two notches to BBB from A-minus yesterday, pushing the state's lease-backed debt to the lowest investment grade, BBB-minus.

SAN FRANCISCO - California IOUs will pay a 3.75% annualized interest rate to the creditors who receive them, the state's Pooled Money Investment Board decided last week. The interest is tax-exempt.

WASHINGTON - Primary and secondary market trading for Build America Bonds totaled $23 billion on 30,633 trades, according to a report released Thursday by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

SAN FRANCISCO - California is poised to begin paying some bills with IOUs today after efforts to pass budget-balancing legislation before a Tuesday night deadline failed.