Article 13
Capital Financing
Section 13.1.--Borrowing Power. The commission may borrow money for any of the purposes of this compact and may issue its negotiable bonds and other evidences of indebtedness in respect thereto.
All such bonds and evidences of indebtedness shall be payable solely out of the properties and revenues of the commission without recourse to taxation. The bonds and other obligations of the commission, except as may be otherwise provided in the indenture under which they were issued, shall be direct and general obligations of the commission, and the full faith and credit of the commission are hereby pledged for the prompt payment of the debt service thereon and for the fulfillment of all other undertakings of the commission assumed by it to or for the benefit of the holders thereof.
13.2.--Funds and Expenses. The purposes of this compact shall include without limitation thereto all costs of any project or facility or any part thereof, including interest during a period of construction and a reasonable time thereafter and any incidental expenses (legal, engineering, fiscal, financial consultant, and other expenses) connected with issuing and disposing of the bonds; all amounts required for the creation of an operating fund, construction fund, reserve fund, sinking fund, or other special fund; all other expenses connected with the planning, design, acquisition, construction, completion, improvement, or reconstruction of any facility or any part thereof; and reimbursement of advances by the commission or by others for such purposes and for working capital.
13.3.--Credit Excluded; Officers, State and Municipal. The commission shall have no power to pledge the credit of any signatory party or of any county or municipality, or to impose any obligation for payment of the bonds upon any signatory party or any county or municipality. Neither the commissioners nor any person executing the bonds shall be liable personally on the bonds of the commission or be subject to any personal liability or accountability by reason of the issuance thereof.
13.4.--Funding and Refunding. Whenever the commission deems it expedient, it may fund and refund its bonds and other obligations, whether or not such bonds and obligations have matured. It may provide for the issuance, sale, or exchange of refunding bonds for the purpose of redeeming or retiring any bonds (including payment of any premium, duplicate interest, or cash adjustment required in connection therewith) issued by the commission or issued by any other issuing body, the proceeds of the sale of which have been applied to any facility acquired by the commission or which are payable out of the revenues of any facility acquired by the commission. Bonds may be issued partly to refund bonds and other obligations then outstanding, and partly for any other purpose of the commission. All provisions of this compact applicable to the issuance of bonds are applicable to refunding bonds and to the issuance, sale, or exchange thereof.
13.5.--Bonds: Authorization Generally. Bonds and other indebtedness of the commission shall be authorized by resolution of the commission. The validity of the authorization and issuance of any bonds by the commission shall not be dependent upon or affected in any way by: (1) the disposition of bond proceeds by the commission or by contract, commitment or action taken with respect to such proceeds; or (2) the failure to complete any part of the project for which bonds are authorized to be issued. The commission may issue bonds in one or more series and may provide for one or more consolidated bond issues, in such principal amounts and with such terms and provisions as the commission may deem necessary. The bonds may be secured by a pledge of all or any part of the property, revenues, and franchises under its control. Bonds may be issued by the commission in such amount, with such maturities and in such denominations and form or forms, whether coupon or registered, as to both principal and interest, as may be determined by the commission. The commission may provide for redemption of bonds prior to maturity on such notice and at such time or times and with such redemption provisions, including premiums, as the commission may determine.
13.6.--Bonds, Resolutions and Indentures Generally. The commission may determine and enter into indentures providing for the principal amount, date or dates, maturities, interest rate, denominations, form, registration, transfer, interchange, and other provisions of the bonds and coupons and the terms and conditions upon which the same shall be executed, issued, secured, sold, paid, redeemed, funded, and refunded. The resolution of the commission authorizing any bond or any indenture so authorized under which the bonds are issued may include all such covenants and other provisions other than any restriction on the regulatory powers vested in the commission by this compact as the commission may deem necessary or desirable for the issue, payment, security, protection, or marketing of the bonds, including without limitation covenants and other provisions as to the rates or amounts of fees, rents and other charges to be charged or made for use of the facilities; the use, pledge, custody, securing, application and disposition of such revenues, of the proceeds of the bonds, and of any other moneys of the commission; the operation, maintenance, repair, and reconstruction of the facilities and the amounts which may be expended therefor; the sale, lease, or other disposition of the facilities; the insuring of the facilities and of the revenues derived therefrom; the construction or other acquisition of other facilities; the issuance of additional bonds or other indebtedness; the rights of the bondholders and of any trustee for the bondholders upon default by the commission or otherwise; and the modification of the provisions of the indenture and of the bonds. Reference on the face of the bonds to such resolution or indenture by its date of adoption or the apparent date on the face thereof is sufficient to incorporate all of the provisions thereof and of this compact into the body of the bonds and their appurtenant coupons. Each taker and subsequent holder of the bonds or coupons, whether the coupons are attached to or detached from the bonds, has recourse to all of the provisions of the indenture and of this compact and is bound thereby.
13.7.--Maximum Maturity. No bond or its terms shall mature in more than fifty years from its own date, or on any date subsequent to the duration of this compact, and in the event any authorized issue is divided into two or more series or divisions, the maximum maturity date herein authorized shall be calculated from the date on the face of each bond separately, irrespective of the fact that different dates may be prescribed for the bonds of each separate series or division of any authorized issue.
13.8.--Tax Exemption. All bonds issued by the commission under the provisions of this compact and the interest thereon shall at all times be free and exempt from all taxation by or under authority of any of the signatory parties, except for transfer, inheritance and estate taxes.
13.9.--Interest. Bonds shall bear interest at such rate as the commission shall determine, payable annually or semi-annually.
(13.9 amended June 21, 1984, P.L.423, No.84)
13.10.--Place of Payment. The commission may provide for the payment of the principal and interest of bonds at any place or places within or without the signatory states, and in any specified lawful coin or currency of the United States of America.
13.11.--Execution. The commission may provide for the execution and authentication of bonds by the manual, lithographed, or printed facsimile signature of officers of the commission, and by additional authentication by a trustee or fiscal agent appointed by the commission. If any of the officers whose signatures or countersignatures appear upon the bonds or coupons ceases to be an officer before the delivery of the bonds or coupons, his signature or countersignature is nevertheless valid and of the same force and effect as if the officer had remained in office until the delivery of the bonds and coupons.
13.12.--Holding Own Bonds. The commission shall have power out of any funds available therefor to purchase its bonds and may hold, cancel, or resell such bonds.
13.13.--Sale. The commission may fix terms and conditions for the sale or other disposition of any authorized issue of bonds and may sell its bonds at less than their par or face value. All bonds issued and sold for cash pursuant to this compact shall be sold on sealed proposals to the highest bidder. Prior to such sale, the commission shall advertise for bids by publication of a notice of sale not less than ten days prior to the date of sale, at least once in a newspaper of general circulation printed and published in New York City carrying municipal bonds notices and devoted primarily to financial news. The commission may reject any and all bids submitted and may thereafter sell the bonds so advertised for sale at private sale to any financially responsible bidder under such terms and conditions as it deems most advantageous to the public interest, but the bonds shall not be sold at a net interest cost calculated upon the entire issue so advertised, greater than the lowest bid which was rejected. In the event the commission desires to issue its bonds in exchange for an existing facility or portion thereof, or in exchange for bonds secured by the revenues of an existing facility, it may exchange such bonds for the existing facility or portion thereof or for the bonds so secured, plus an additional amount of cash, without advertising such bonds for sale.
(13.13 amended June 21, 1984, P.L.423, No.84)
13.14.--Negotiability. All bonds issued under the provisions of this compact are negotiable instruments, except when registered in the name of a registered owner.
13.15.--Legal Investments. Bonds of the commission shall be legal investments for savings banks, fiduciaries and public funds in each of the signatory states.
13.16.--Validation Proceedings. Prior to the issuance of any bonds, the commission may institute a special proceeding to determine the legality of proceedings to issue the bonds and their validity under the laws of any of the signatory parties. Such proceedings shall be instituted and prosecuted in rem, and the judgment rendered therein shall be conclusive against all persons whomsoever and against each of the signatory parties.
13.17.--Recording. No indenture need be recorded or filed in any public office, other than the office of the commission. The pledge of revenues provided in any indenture shall take effect forthwith as provided therein and irrespective of the date of receipts of such revenues by the commission or the indenture trustee. Such pledge shall be effective as provided in the indenture without physical delivery of the revenues to the commission or the indenture trustee.
13.18.--Pledged Revenues. Bond redemption and interest payments, to the extent provided in the resolution or indenture, shall constitute a first, direct and exclusive charge and lien on all such rates, rents, tolls, fees, and charges and other revenues and interest thereon received from the use and operation of the facility, and on any sinking or other funds created therefrom. All such rates, rents, tolls, fees, charges and other revenues, together with interest thereon, shall constitute a trust fund for the security and payment of such bonds, and except as and to the extent provided in the indenture with respect to the payment therefrom of expenses for other purposes including administration, operation, maintenance, improvements, or extensions of the facilities or other purposes shall not be used or pledged for any other purpose so long as such bonds, or any of them, are outstanding, and unpaid.
13.19.--Remedies. The holder of any bond may for the equal benefit and protection of all holders of bonds similarly situated; (1) by mandamus or other appropriate proceedings require and compel the performance of any of the duties imposed upon the commission or assumed by it, its officers, agents, or employees under the provisions of any indenture, in connection with the acquisition, construction, operation, maintenance, repair, reconstruction, or insurance of the facilities, or in connection with the collection, deposit, investment, application, and disbursement of the rates, rents, tolls, fees, charges and other revenues derived from the operation and use of the facilities, or in connection with the deposit, investment, and disbursement of the proceeds received from the sale of bonds; or (2) by action or suit in a court of competent jurisdiction of any signatory party require the commission to account as if it were the trustee of an express trust, or enjoin any acts or things which may be unlawful or in violation of the rights of the holders of the bonds. The enumeration of such rights and remedies, however, does not exclude the exercise or prosecution of any other rights or remedies available to the holders of bonds.
13.20.--Capital Financing by Signatory Parties; Guarantees.
(a) The signatory parties shall provide such capital funds required for projects of the commission as may be authorized by their respective statutes in accordance with a cost sharing plan prepared pursuant to Article 12 of this compact; but nothing in this section shall be deemed to impose any mandatory obligation on any of the signatory parties other than such obligations as may be assumed by a signatory party in connection with a specific project or facility.
(b) Bonds of the commission, notwithstanding any other provision of this compact, may be executed and delivered to any duly authorized agency of any of the signatory parties without public offering and may be sold and resold with or without the guaranty of such signatory party, subject to and in accordance with the constitutions of the respective signatory parties.
(c) The commission may receive and accept, and the signatory parties may make, loans, grants, appropriations, advances, and payments of reimbursable or nonreimbursable funds or property in any form for the capital or operating purposes of the commission.