Law and legal issues

CHICAGO — Chicago plans to sell $1 billion of O’Hare International Airport third-lien general airport revenue bonds next month.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission’s muni enforcement priorities include staying on top of undisclosed pension liabilities, faulty bond valuation and pricing, and undisclosed potential tax ­violations that could jeopardize the tax-exempt status of bonds, the SEC’s top cop said Wednesday.

Jefferson County will not ask the Alabama Supreme Court for a rehearing on its occupational tax ruling, the Birmingham News reported Tuesday.

A federal trial challenging Alabama’s school-funding formula started Monday in Huntsville before Judge Lynwood Smith. The suit was filed two years ago by parents in rural north Alabama counties who claim that state funding for the public education system is based on a discriminatory formula that includes the lowest property-tax rate in the country.

The 11 banks contesting MBIA Inc.’s February 2009 restructuring have long said the regulatory process allowing the move was based on outdated and inaccurate financial information. Now, they have evidence.

CHICAGO — The bankrupt Fairview Obligated Group, operator of several Chicago-area continuing care retirement communities, will hold an auction next month on its Rockford campus as investors who hold $57 million of mostly tax-exempt debt await word on how much they stand to recoup.

LOS ANGELES — California’s Sierra Kings Healthcare District is nearing a deal that could lead to its exit from Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen Monday asked a state appellate court to lift a lower court’s temporary restraining order blocking the controversial budget-repair measure recently signed by Gov. Scott Walker from becoming law.

A judge last week rejected Harrisburg’s request to dismiss or postpone two lawsuits filed by bond trustees of the city’s $282 million of incinerator debt and by Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp., the insurer of the bonds.

The former city administrator of the scandalized city of Bell, Calif., has been ordered to stand trial on more than 50 felony charges.

Troubled bond insurer Ambac Assurance Corp. posted a gain in its statutory surplus even as its bankrupt parent recorded a net loss in its fourth-quarter filing Wednesday.

CHICAGO — The Minnesota attorney general’s office and lawyers representing state retirees in a lawsuit challenging legislation that curbed future increases in their pension benefits will return to court Tuesday to argue their sides.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Alabama Supreme Court Wednesday struck down an occupational tax that provided one-third of Jefferson County’s general fund revenues, potentially setting the stage for the county to file for the largest municipal bankruptcy in history.

DALLAS — Glendale, Ariz.’s plan to sell $100 million of revenue bonds to finance the sale of the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team to Chicago investor Matthew Hulsizer appeared to be on hold after the Goldwater Institute confirmed plans to challenge the deal in court.

SAN FRANCISCO — An independent auditor says Victorville is nearing insolvency.The California city’s auditor, Mayer Hoffman McCann PC, noted the shuffling of tens of millions of dollars of bond proceeds between different agencies without proper approval.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Senate could vote as early as Wednesday on a revamped financing scheme, which includes a cigarette-tax hike that would allow the state to continue issuing bonds and keep a $31 billion capital budget on track ahead of a court decision on the original plan’s ­legality.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined nine firms a total of $129,500 for violations of muni trade reporting, pricing, book-keeping, record-keeping, and supervisory rules.

Four former superintendents of the New York Insurance Department argued Sunday that the regulating body didn’t have the authority to approve bond insurer MBIA Inc.’s February 2009 ­restructuring.

The Nassau County Interim Finance Authority will remain in control of Nassau County, N.Y.’s finances, as a judge Monday rejected the county’s request for a temporary injunction to stop NIFA’s supervision.

CHICAGO — In a deal brokered by federal authorities, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and officials from American Airlines and United Airlines announced an agreement Monday that allows the city to begin work on $1.17 billion worth of a remaining $3.36 billion of expansion projects at O’Hare International Airport.