The General Assembly finds that there exists in the Commonwealth a critical need for additional sources of funding to finance the present and future needs of the Commonwealth for water supply; land conservation or land preservation including land for parks and other recreational purposes; oyster restoration projects, including planting and replanting with seed oysters, oyster shells, or other material that will catch, support, and grow oysters; wastewater treatment facilities; drainage facilities; solid waste treatment, disposal and management facilities; recycling facilities; resource recovery facilities; energy conservation and energy efficiency projects; professional sports facilities; certain heavy rail transportation facilities; public safety facilities; airport facilities; the remediation of brownfields and contaminated properties, including properties contaminated by defective drywall; the design and construction of roads, public parking garages and other public transportation facilities, and facilities for public transportation by commuter rail; construction of local government buildings, including administrative and operations systems and other local government equipment and infrastructure; site acquisition and site development work for economic and community development projects; recovered gas energy facilities; the location or retention of federal facilities in the Commonwealth and the support of the transition of former federal facilities from use by the federal government to other uses; and renewable energy projects, including solar, wind, biomass, waste-to-energy, and geothermal. This need can be alleviated in part through the creation of a resources authority. Its purpose is to encourage the investment of both public and private funds and to make loans, grants, and credit enhancements available to local governments to finance water and sewer projects, land conservation or land preservation programs or projects, oyster restoration projects, drainage projects, solid waste treatment, disposal and management projects, recycling projects, energy conservation and energy efficiency projects, professional sports facilities, resource recovery projects, public safety facilities, airport facilities, the remediation of brownfields and contaminated properties including properties contaminated by defective drywall, the design and construction of roads, public parking garages and other public transportation facilities, and facilities for public transportation by commuter rail, site acquisition and site development work for the benefit of economic development projects, technology, construction of local government buildings, including administrative and operations systems and other local government equipment and infrastructure, infrastructure for broadband services, recovered gas energy facilities, federal facilities or former federal facilities, and renewable energy projects. The General Assembly determines that the creation of an authority for this purpose is in the public interest, serves a public purpose and will promote the health, safety, welfare, convenience or prosperity of the people of the Commonwealth.
1984, c. 699; 1989, cc. 533, 551; 1990, c. 506; 1998, c. 399; 2000, c. 790; 2001, cc. 652, 661; 2003, c. 561; 2005, cc. 727, 769; 2007, cc. 81, 649, 663; 2008, cc. 3, 24, 238, 259, 504, 605, 613; 2009, cc. 14, 246, 311, 543, 632; 2010, cc. 42, 724, 820; 2011, c. 270.