Law and legal issues

CHICAGO - The Illinois Supreme Court Monday upheld the state's $31 billion public works program and the funding sources established to repay billions in borrowing, clearing the path for the planned sale of several billion dollars of new debt.

While the final version of Harrisburg's financial recovery plan, released Friday, made no changes that addresses the incinerator-related debt that triggered its financial crisis, it made several adjustments regarding the structural deficit of Pennsylvania's capital city.

DALLAS — A Jefferson County, Ala., circuit judge on Friday gave total control over all finances of the county's sewer utility to the court-appointed receiver of the system, which is in default on more than $3 billion of revenue debt.

WASHINGTON — The Governmental Accounting Standards Board unveiled a pension accounting and reporting proposal Friday that would fundamentally alter how cash-strapped states and localities report pension liabilities and pose challenges for them.

Legislation intended to give the City Council of Central Falls and any other community that lands in receivership a greater say in decision-making is headed to Gov. Lincoln Chafee's desk.

Quincy Medical Center Inc. has sought bankruptcy protection as a part of a plan for Steward Health Care System LLC of Boston to take it over.

WASHINGTON — The House Transportation Committee chairman said Thursday he wants bond provisions in a bill he plans to introduce that would fund highway and transit programs for six years.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission voted unanimously Thursday to approve a final rule that would significantly expand its powers to police fraud and manipulation in the swaps market.

WASHINGTON - JPMorgan Chase & Co. has agreed to pay $228 million to settle criminal and civil charges stemming from former employees' fraudulent bid-rigging of at least 141 municipal bond-related reinvestment contracts involving state and local issuers and conduit borrowers in at least 31 states over eight years.

Legislation that would make it harder for California municipalities to file for bankruptcy stalled in committee Wednesday.

Novak Consulting Group will release its finalized financial recovery plan for Harrisburg at 10 a.m. Friday. It will post the plan, with adjusted recommendations for Pennsylvania's troubled capital city, at that time on the websites of Cincinnati-based Novak Consulting and the state Department of Community and Economic Development.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley softened his stance on supporting bankruptcy for Jefferson County last week, according to the Birmingham News.

South Dakota state officials said last week they had reached an agreement on a new gambling contract with the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe just days before the start of a federal trial over the dispute.

CHICAGO - Attorneys for state retirees in Colorado and Minnesota are weighing whether to appeal court decisions last week dismissing litigation that challenged legislative cuts to pension cost-of-living hikes but fear that such rulings will "embolden" other cash-strapped states eying ways to ease pension costs.

Gov. Tom Corbett late Thursday night signed a bill to prevent Harrisburg and other distressed small-to-medium-sized cities in Pennsylvania from filing for bankruptcy protection - at least for the next year - under the threat of losing all state aid.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has entered the probe into questionable payments by Harris County to two brokers involved in county investment transactions.

Little Rock lawyer Sheffield Nelson has filed a revision with the secretary of state’s office to his proposal that would amend the Arkansas constitution and increase the state severance tax on natural gas to help fund maintenance of city, county and state roads.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority bondholders did not get paid July 1, according to the Florida agency's trustee, Bank of New York Mellon.

DALLAS - The Austin City Council has paved the way for promoters of a Formula One race to receive $25 million per year from the Texas comptroller's office over the next decade, but a lawsuit challenging the legality of the state subsidy still stands in the way.

WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission may appeal a recent federal court decision tossing out an auction-rate securities case the agency brought against Memphis-based Morgan Keegan & Co.