This Collier Monograph presents a thorough treatment of chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code. Chapter 9 is a powerful yet underutilized restructuring tool available to financially challenged municipalities and public corporations within the United States. It provides an express means to compromise municipal obligations against a creditor's wishes, unlike state law, which generally speaking, cannot impose an involuntary debt reduction or contract impairment. Chapter 9 also gives a municipality the ability to operate while in bankruptcy with relatively minimal judicial oversight, protected by the automatic stay, free of the risk of a competing plan, liquidation, the appointment of a trustee or many of the other controls that normally act as a check upon a debtor during a bankruptcy reorganization case. The topics covered include: