Tenn. Code § 7-90-112

Current through Acts 2023-2024, ch. 1069
Section 7-90-112 - Bonds of authority
(a) The authority shall have power and is authorized to issue its bonds in order to finance:
(1) The costs of any project;
(2) The payment of the costs of issuance of such bonds, including underwriter's discount, financial advisory fee, preparation of the definitive bonds, preparation of all public offering and marketing materials, advertising, credit enhancement, and legal, accounting, fiscal and other similar expenses;
(3) Reimbursement of the authority for moneys previously spent by the authority for any of the foregoing purposes; and
(4) The establishment of reasonable reserves for the payment of debt service on such bonds, for repair and replacement of any project, or for such other purposes as the board shall deem necessary and proper in connection with the issuance of any bonds and operation of any project for the benefit of which the financing is being undertaken.
(b)
(1) The authority shall have the power and is hereby authorized to issue its bonds to refund and refinance outstanding bonds of the authority heretofore or hereafter issued or lawfully assumed by the authority. The proceeds of the sale of the bonds may be applied to:
(A) The payment of the principal amount of the bonds being refunded and refinanced;
(B) The payment of the redemption or tender premium thereon, if any;
(C) The payment of unpaid interest on the bonds being refunded, including interest in arrears, for the payment of which sufficient funds are not available, to the date of delivery or exchange of the refunding bonds;
(D) The payment of fees or other charges incident to the termination of any interest rate hedging agreements, liquidity or credit facilities, or other agreements related to the bonds being refunded and refinanced;
(E) The payment of interest on the bonds being refunded and refinanced from the date of delivery of the refunding bonds to maturity or to, and including, the first or any subsequent available redemption date or dates on which the bonds being refunded may be called for redemption;
(F) The payment of the costs of issuance of the refunding bonds, including underwriter's discount, financial advisory fee, preparation of the definitive bonds, preparation of all public offering and marketing materials, advertising, credit enhancement, and legal, accounting, fiscal and other similar expenses, and the costs of refunding the outstanding bonds, including the costs of establishing an escrow for the retirement of the outstanding bonds, trustee and escrow agent fees in connection with any escrow, and accounting, legal and other professional fees in connection therewith; and
(G) The establishment of reserves for the purposes set forth in subdivision (a)(4).
(2) Refunding bonds may be issued to refinance and refund more than one (1) issue of outstanding bonds, notwithstanding that such outstanding bonds may have been issued at different times. Refunding bonds may be issued jointly with other refunding bonds or other bonds of the authority. The principal proceeds from the sale of refunding bonds may be applied either to the immediate payment and retirement of the bonds being refunded or, to the extent not required for the immediate payment of the bonds being refunded, to the deposit in escrow with a bank or trust company to provide for the payment and retirement at a later date of the bonds being refunded.
(c) No bonds shall be issued hereunder unless authorized to be issued or assumed by resolution of the board of directors of the authority, and approved by resolution of the governing body of the municipality. Bonds authorized to be issued hereunder may be issued in one (1) or more series, may bear such date or dates, mature at such time or times, not exceeding forty (40) years from their respective dates, bear interest at such rate or rates, payable at such time or times, be in such denominations, be in such form, either coupon or registered, be executed in such manner, be payable in such medium of payment, at such place or places, and be subject to such terms of redemption, with or without premium, as such resolution or resolutions may provide. Bonds may be issued at competitive or negotiated sale for such price or prices as the board of directors, or its designee, shall determine. The authority may enter into such agreements in connection with the issuance of any bonds as its board of directors may approve, including without limitation agreements related to municipal bond insurance, credit or liquidity facility agreements, remarketing agreements and bond purchase agreements.
(d) Bonds may be repurchased by the authority out of any available funds at such price as the board of directors shall determine, and all bonds so repurchased shall be cancelled or held as an investment of the authority as the board may determine.
(e) Pending the preparation or execution of definitive bonds, interim receipts or certificates or temporary bonds may be delivered to the purchasers of bonds.
(f)
(1) With respect to all or any portion of any issue of bonds issued hereunder, at any time during the term of the bonds, and upon receipt of a report of the comptroller of the treasury or the comptroller's designee finding that the contracts and agreements authorized in this subsection (f) are in compliance with the guidelines, rules or regulations adopted or promulgated by the state funding board, as set forth in § 9-21-130, the authority, by resolution of the board of directors and upon approval by resolution of the governing body of the municipality, may authorize and enter into interest rate swap or exchange agreements, agreements establishing interest rate floors or ceilings or both, and other interest rate hedging agreements under such terms and conditions as the board of directors may determine, including, without limitation, provisions permitting the authority to pay to, or receive from, any person or entity any loss of benefits under such agreement upon early termination thereof or default under such agreement.
(2) The authority may enter into an agreement to sell bonds, other than its refunding bonds, under this chapter providing for delivery of its bonds on a date greater than ninety (90) days and not greater than five (5) years or such greater period of time if approved by the comptroller of the treasury or the comptroller's designee, from the date of execution of such agreement or to sell its refunding bonds providing for delivery thereof on a date greater than ninety (90) days from the date of execution of the agreement and not greater than the first optional redemption date on which the bonds being refunded can be optionally redeemed resulting in cost savings or at par, whichever is earlier, only upon receipt of a report of the comptroller of the treasury or the comptroller's designee finding that the agreement or contract of the authority to sell its bonds as authorized in this subsection (f) is in compliance with the guidelines, rules or regulations adopted or promulgated by the state funding board in accordance with § 9-21-130. Agreements to sell bonds and refunding bonds for delivery ninety (90) days or less from the date of execution of the agreement do not require a report of the comptroller of the treasury or the comptroller's designee.
(3) Prior to the adoption by the board of a resolution authorizing a contract or agreement described in subdivision (f)(1) or (f)(2), a request shall be submitted to the comptroller of the treasury or the comptroller's designee for a report finding that such contract or agreement is in compliance with the guidelines, rules or regulations of the state funding board. Within fifteen (15) days of receipt of the request, the comptroller of the treasury or the comptroller's designee shall determine whether the contract or agreement substantially complies with the guidelines, rules or regulations and shall report thereon to the authority. If the report of the comptroller of the treasury or the comptroller's designee finds that the contract or agreement complies with the guidelines, rules or regulations of the state funding board or the comptroller of the treasury shall fail to report within the fifteen-day period, then the authority may take such action with respect to the proposed contract or agreement as it deems advisable in accordance with this section and the guidelines, rules or regulations of the state funding board. If the report of the comptroller of the treasury or the comptroller's designee finds that such contract or agreement is not in compliance with the guidelines, rules or regulations, then the authority is not authorized to enter into such contract or agreement. The guidelines, rules or regulations shall provide for an appeal process upon a determination of noncompliance.
(4) When entering into any contracts or agreements facilitating the issuance and sale of bonds, including contracts or agreements providing for liquidity and credit enhancement and reimbursement agreements relating thereto, interest rate swap or exchange agreements, agreements establishing interest rate floors or ceilings or both, other interest rate hedging agreements, and agreements with the purchaser of the bonds, evidencing a transaction bearing a reasonable relationship to this state and also to another state or nation, the authority may agree in the written contract or agreement that the rights and remedies of the parties thereto shall be governed by the laws of this state or the laws of such other state or nation; provided, that jurisdiction over the authority shall lie solely in the courts of the county in which the municipality forming the authority is located.
(g)
(1) Except as provided in § 7-90-114, all bonds issued by the authority shall be payable solely out of the revenues from any projects, or of any portion of projects owned, operated or leased to or from the authority, as may be designated by the board of directors of the authority.
(2) The principal of and interest on any bonds issued by the authority shall be secured, as may be designated by the board of directors of the authority, by a pledge of revenues and receipts of the authority described in subdivision (g)(1), by a pledge of the authority's rights under agreements, leases and other contracts, or by a mortgage or deed of trust covering all or any part of the projects from which the revenues or receipts so pledged may be derived. The proceedings under which the bonds are authorized to be issued and any such pledge agreement or mortgage or deed of trust may contain any agreements and provisions respecting the maintenance of the projects covered by the bonds, the fixing and collection of rents for any portions of projects leased by the authority to others, the creation and maintenance of special funds from such revenues and the rights and remedies available in the event of default, all as the board of directors shall deem advisable and not in conflict with this chapter. Each pledge, agreement, or mortgage or deed of trust made for the benefit or security of any of the bonds of the authority shall continue effective until the principal of and interest on the bonds for the benefit of which the pledge, agreement, or mortgage or deed of trust were made shall have been fully paid. In the event of default in such payment or in any agreement of the authority made as a part of the contract under which the bonds were issued, whether contained in the proceedings authorizing the bonds or in any mortgage or deed of trust executed as security for the bonds, such payment or agreement may be enforced by suit, mandamus, the appointment of a receiver in equity or by foreclosure of any such mortgage or deed of trust, or any one (1) or more of such remedies.
(h) The authority may issue interim certificates, bond anticipation notes or other temporary obligations pending the issuance of its revenue bonds, which such temporary obligations shall be payable out of revenues and receipts of the authority in like manner as such revenue bonds and shall be retired from the proceeds of such bonds upon the issuance of the revenue bonds, and shall be in such form and contain such terms, conditions and provisions consistent with this chapter as the board of directors may determine.
(i) Bonds and notes of the authority shall be executed in the name of the authority by such officers of the authority and in such manner as the board of directors may direct, and shall be sealed with the corporate seal of the authority. If so provided in the proceedings authorizing the bonds, the facsimile signature of any of the officers executing such bonds and a facsimile of the corporate seal of the authority may appear on the bonds in lieu of the manual signature of such officer and the manual impress of such seal.
(j) Any bonds and notes of the authority may be sold at public or private sale, for such price and in such manner and from time to time as may be determined by the board of directors of the authority to be most advantageous, and the authority may pay all expenses, premiums and commissions that its board of directors may deem necessary or advantageous in connection with the issuance of the bonds.

T.C.A. § 7-90-112

Acts 2010, ch. 1078, § 1.