The authority is hereby authorized and empowered to fix and revise, from time to time, such schedules of service and rates of fare and charges for service furnished or operated as it determines to be reasonable. The schedules of service, rates of fare, and charges for service shall not be subject to supervision or regulation by any commission, board, bureau, or agency of the state or of any municipality or other political subdivision of the state; except as provided in § 39-18-4. Provided, however, any changes in frequency of services of more than fifteen percent (15%), providers of service, rates of service, other than systemwide changes, and charges for service shall be presented for comment in at least one public hearing scheduled in an accessible location in each county affected, and the hearing shall be scheduled in two (2) sessions, one during daytime business hours and one during evening hours. The revenues derived from the authority's operations and any other funds or property received or to be received by the authority (including, without limitation, any funds or other property received or to be received by the authority pursuant to § 39-18-4(a)(10)), in whole or in part, at any time and from time to time, may be pledged to, and charged with, the payment of the principal of and the interest on some or all of the authority's bonds as provided for in the resolution authorizing the issuance of the bonds or in the trust agreement securing the bonds. The pledge shall be valid and binding from the time when the pledge is made; the revenues, funds, or other property so pledged, and thereafter received by the authority, shall immediately be subject to the lien of the pledge without any physical delivery thereof or further act, and the lien of any pledge shall be valid and binding as against all parties having claims of any kind, in tort, contract, or otherwise, against the authority, irrespective of whether the parties have notice thereof. Neither the resolution nor any trust agreement by which a pledge is created need be filed or recorded except in the records of the authority.
History of Section.
P.L. 1964, ch. 210, § 1; P.L. 1965, ch. 127, § 7; P.L. 1983, ch. 157, § 1; P.L. 1987, ch. 517, § 1; P.L. 2008, ch. 475, § 21; P.L. 2020, ch. 79, art. 1, § 10.