Sec. 201.973. AUTHORITY TO ISSUE OBLIGATIONS; PURPOSES; LIMITATIONS

(a) Subject to Subsections (e), (f), and (g), the commission by order or resolution may issue obligations in the name and on behalf of the state and the department and may enter into credit agreements related to the obligations. The obligations may be issued in multiple series and issues from time to time in an aggregate amount not exceeding the maximum obligation amount. The obligations may be issued on and may have the terms and provisions the commission determines appropriate and in the interests of the state. The obligations may be issued as long-term obligations, short-term obligations, or both. The latest scheduled maturity of an issue or series of obligations may not exceed 30 years.

(b) Obligations must be secured by and payable from a pledge of and lien on all or part of the money in the fund, including the revenues of the state dedicated or appropriated for deposit to the fund. Obligations may be additionally secured by and payable from credit agreements. The commission may pay amounts due on the obligations from discretionary money available to it that is not dedicated to or appropriated for other specific purposes.

(c) The commission may create within the fund accounts, reserves, and subfunds for purposes the commission finds appropriate and necessary.

(c-1) If proceeds of obligations are to be used for a project located in the planning area of a metropolitan planning organization, the project must first be approved by the policy board of the metropolitan planning organization.

(d) Obligations may be issued for one or more of the following purposes:

(1) to pay all or part of the costs of relocating, constructing, reconstructing, acquiring, improving, rehabilitating, or expanding rail facilities owned or to be owned by the department, including any necessary design, in the manner and locations determined by the commission that according to conclusive findings of the commission have an expected useful life, without material repair, of not less than 10 years;

(2) to provide participation by the state in the payment of part of the costs of relocating, constructing, reconstructing, acquiring, improving, rehabilitating, or expanding publicly or privately owned rail facilities, including any necessary design, if the commission determines that the project will be in the best interests of the state in its major goal of improving the mobility of the residents of the state and will:

(A) relieve congestion on public highways;

(B) enhance public safety;

(C) improve air quality; or

(D) expand economic opportunity;

(3) to create debt service reserve accounts;

(4) to pay interest on obligations for a period of not longer than two years;

(5) to refund or cancel outstanding obligations; and

(6) to pay the commission's costs of issuance.

(d-1) The fund may also be used to provide a method of financing the construction of railroad underpasses and overpasses, if the construction is part of the relocation of a rail facility.

(d-2) Proceeds of obligations may not be used to relocate an existing rail line unless the governing bodies of a majority of the total number of counties and municipalities in which the relocated rail line will be located have first approved the relocation.

(e) Long-term obligations in the amount proposed to be issued by the commission may not be issued unless the comptroller projects in a comptroller's certification that the amount of money dedicated to the fund pursuant to Section 49-o(d), Article III, Texas Constitution, and required to be on deposit in the fund pursuant to Section 49-o(e), Article III, Texas Constitution, and the investment earnings on that money, during each year of the period during which the proposed obligations are scheduled to be outstanding will be equal to at least 110 percent of the requirements to pay the principal of and interest on the proposed long-term obligations during that year.

(f) Short-term obligations in the amount proposed by the commission may not be issued unless the comptroller, in a comptroller's certification:

(1) assumes that the short-term obligations will be refunded and refinanced to mature over a 20-year period with level debt service requirements and bearing interest at then current market rates, as determined by the comptroller; and

(2) projects that the amount of money dedicated to the fund pursuant to Section 49-o(d), Article III, Texas Constitution, and required to be on deposit in the fund pursuant to Section 49-o(e), Article III, Texas Constitution, and the investment earnings on that money, during each year of the assumed 20-year period will be equal to at least 110 percent of the requirements to pay the principal of and interest on the proposed refunding obligations during that year.

(g) The commission may agree to further restrictions in connection with the issuance of obligations and may retain independent professional consultants to make projections in addition to, but not instead of, those of the comptroller if required as a prerequisite to the issuance of the obligations.

(h) The commission has all powers necessary or appropriate to carry out this subchapter and to implement Section 49-o, Article III, Texas Constitution, including the powers granted to other bond-issuing governmental agencies and units and to nonprofit corporations by Chapters 1201, 1207, and 1371, Government Code.

(i) As required by Section 49-o(g), Article III, Texas Constitution, proceedings authorizing obligations and related credit agreements to be issued and executed under this subchapter shall be submitted to the attorney general for approval as to their legality. If the attorney general finds that they will be issued in accordance with this subchapter and other applicable law, the attorney general shall approve them, and, after payment by the purchasers of the obligations in accordance with the terms of sale and after execution and delivery of the related credit agreements, the obligations and related credit agreements are incontestable for any cause.

(j) A comptroller's certification under this section must be based on economic data, forecasting methods, and projections that the comptroller determines are reliable. In determining the principal and interest requirements on outstanding and proposed obligations, and subject to the express limitations of this subchapter and Section 49-o, Article III, Texas Constitution, the comptroller shall rely on the assumptions included in the resolutions authorizing the obligations for the computation of debt service.

(k) The holders of obligations and the counterparties to credit agreements have the rights granted in Section 49-o(i), Article III, Texas Constitution.

Added by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 1070 , Sec. 1, eff. November 8, 2005.