142-29.6. Sale of refunding obligations and provisions thereof.
(a) The bonds shall bear such date or dates, shall be serial or term bonds, shall mature in such amounts and at such times, not exceeding 40 years from their date or dates, and shall bear interest at such rate or rates, which may vary from time to time as hereinafter authorized, and which may be represented, in part, by evidences of additional interest, and the bonds may be made redeemable before maturity, at the option of the State or otherwise as may be provided by the State, at such price or prices and under such terms and conditions, all as may be fixed by the State Treasurer with the consent of the Council of State.
(b) The bonds shall be signed on behalf of the State by the Governor or shall bear his facsimile signature; shall be signed by the State Treasurer or shall bear his facsimile signature; and shall bear the Great Seal of the State or a facsimile thereof impressed or imprinted thereon; and interest coupons, if any, shall bear a facsimile of the signature of the State Treasurer. If the bonds shall bear the facsimile signatures of the Governor and the State Treasurer, the bonds shall also bear a manual signature which may be that of a bond registrar, trustee, paying agent or designated assistant of the State Treasurer. Should any officer whose signature or facsimile signature appears on any bonds or coupons (if any) cease to be such officer before the delivery of the bonds, such signature or facsimile signature shall nevertheless have the same validity for all purposes as if the officer had remained in office until delivery and any bond or coupon may bear the facsimile signatures of such persons who at the actual time of the execution of such bond or coupon shall be the proper officers to sign any bond or coupon although at the date of such bond or coupon such persons may not have been such officers. The form and denomination of the bonds and any coupons, including the provisions with respect to registration of the bonds, shall be as the State Treasurer may determine in conformity with this Article; provided, however, that nothing in this Article shall prohibit the State Treasurer from proceeding, with respect to the issuance and form of the bonds, under the provisions of the Registered Public Obligations Act as well as this Article.
(c) Subject to determination by the Council of State as to the manner in which the bonds shall be offered for sale, whether at public or private sale and whether by publishing notices in certain newspapers and financial journals, mailing notices, inviting bids by correspondence, negotiating contracts of purchase or otherwise, the State Treasurer is authorized to sell the bonds, at one time or from time to time, at a price equal to, greater than or less than the face amount of the bonds as the State Treasurer may determine to be in the best interests of the State.
| All expenses incurred in the preparation, sale and issuance of the refunding obligations shall be paid by the State Treasurer from the proceeds of any such refunding obligations or any other available moneys. |
(d) (1) By and with the consent of the Council of State, the State Treasurer is hereby authorized to borrow money at such rate or rates of interest as the State Treasurer may determine to be in the best interests of the State, which may vary from time to time as hereinafter authorized, and to execute and issue bond anticipation notes or notes of the State for the same, but only in the following circumstances and under the following conditions:
a. For anticipating the sale of any bonds to the issuance of which the Council of State shall have given consent, if the State Treasurer shall deem it advisable to postpone the issuance of such bonds;
b. For the payment of interest upon or any installment of principal of any of the bonds then outstanding, if there shall not be sufficient funds in the State Treasury with which to pay the interest or installment of principal as they respectively become due; or
c. For the renewal of any loan evidenced by bond anticipation notes or notes herein authorized.
(2) Funds derived from the sale of bonds may be used in the payment of any bond anticipation notes issued under this Article. Funds provided by the General Assembly for the payment of interest on or principal of bonds shall be used in paying the interest on or principal of any notes and any renewals thereof, the proceeds of which shall have been used in paying interest on or principal of such bonds.
Nothing in this Article shall be construed as a limitation on the duration of any deposit in trust for the retirement of outstanding obligations which shall not have matured and which shall not be then redeemable or, if then redeemable, shall not have been called for redemption.
(e) Coupons (if any) and any evidences of additional interest appertaining to bonds and notes shall, after the maturity of such coupons or evidences of additional indebtedness, be receivable in payment of all taxes, debts, dues, licenses, fines and demands of any kind whatever due the State.
(f) All refunding obligations shall be exempt from all State, county and municipal taxation or assessment, direct or indirect, general or special, whether imposed for the purpose of general revenue or otherwise, except for income taxes on the gain from the transfer of the obligations, and franchise taxes. The interest on the refunding obligations is not subject to taxation as income.
(g) Refunding obligations, coupons (if any) and any evidences of additional indebtedness are hereby made securities in which all public officers, agencies and public bodies of the State and its political subdivisions, all insurance companies, trust companies, investment companies, banks, savings banks, building and loan associations, credit unions, pension or retirement funds, other financial institutions engaged in business in the State, executors, administrators, trustees and other fiduciaries may properly and legally invest funds, including capital in their control or belonging to them. Such refunding obligations, coupons (if any) and any evidences of additional indebtedness are hereby made securities which may properly and legally be deposited with and received by any officer or agency of the State or political subdivision of the State for any purpose for which the deposit of bonds, notes or obligations of the State or any political subdivision is now or may hereafter be authorized by law.
(h) The full faith, credit and taxing power of the State are hereby pledged for the payment of the principal of and the interest on refunding obligations, coupons (if any) and any evidences of additional indebtedness to the same extent as pledged to the outstanding obligations being refunded. To the extent additional security has been pledged to outstanding obligations, such additional security may, at the discretion of the State, be continued and similarly pledged to the appropriate refunding obligations, coupons (if any) and any evidences of additional indebtedness.