Sec. 7-329g. Issuance of bonds. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 7-329g. Issuance of bonds. (a) The port authority may issue bonds from time to time in its discretion, subject to the approval of the legislative body when required by the provisions of sections 7-329a to 7-329u, inclusive, for the purpose of paying all or any part of the cost of acquiring, purchasing, constructing, reconstructing, improving or extending any project and acquiring necessary land and equipment therefor. The port authority may issue such types of bonds as it may determine, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, bonds payable as to principal and interest: (1) From its revenues generally; (2) exclusively from the income and revenues of a particular project; or (3) exclusively from the income and revenues of certain designated projects, whether or not they are financed in whole or in part from the proceeds of such bonds. Any such bonds may be additionally secured by a pledge of any grant or contribution from a participating municipality, the state or any political subdivision, agency or instrumentality thereof, any federal agency or any private corporation, copartnership, association or individual, or a pledge of any income or revenues of the port authority, or a mortgage on any project or other property of the port authority, provided such pledge shall not create any liability on the entity making such grant or contribution beyond the amount of such grant or contribution. Whenever and for as long as any port authority has issued and has outstanding bonds pursuant to sections 7-329a to 7-329f, inclusive, the port authority shall fix, charge and collect rates, rents, fees and other charges in accordance with section 7-329i. Neither the members of the port authority nor any person executing the bonds shall be liable personally on the bonds by reason of the issuance thereof. The bonds and other obligations of the port authority, and such bonds and obligations shall so state on their face, shall not be a debt of the state or any political subdivision thereof, except when the port authority or a participating municipality which in accordance with section 7-329r, has guaranteed payment of principal and of interest on the same, and no person other than the port authority or such a public body shall be liable thereon, nor shall such bonds or obligations be payable out of any funds or properties other than those of the port authority or such a participating municipality. Except to the extent and for the purpose therein expressly provided by other laws, such bonds shall not constitute an indebtedness within the meaning of any statutory limitation on the indebtedness of any participating municipality. Bonds of the port authority are declared to be issued for an essential public and governmental purpose. In anticipation of the sale of such revenue bonds the port authority may issue negotiable bond anticipation notes and may renew the same from time to time, but the maximum maturity of any such note, including renewals thereof, shall not exceed five years from the date of issue of the original note. Such notes shall be paid from any revenues of the port authority available therefor and not otherwise pledged, or from the proceeds of sale of the revenue bonds of the port authority in anticipation of which they were issued. The notes shall be issued in the same manner as the revenue bonds. Such notes and the resolution or resolutions authorizing the same may contain any provisions, conditions or limitations which a bond resolution of the port authority may contain.

      (b) Bonds of the port authority may be issued as serial bonds or as term bonds, or the port authority, in its discretion, may issue bonds of both types. Bonds shall be authorized by resolution of the members of the authority and shall bear such date or dates, mature at such time or times, not exceeding fifty years from their respective dates, bear interest at such rate or rates, or have provisions for the manner of determining such rate or rates, payable at such time or times, be in such denominations, be in such form, either coupon or registered, carry such registration privileges, be executed in such manner, be payable in lawful money of the United States of America at such place or places, and be subject to such terms of redemption, as such resolution or resolutions may provide. The revenue bonds or notes may be sold at public or private sale for such price or prices as the port authority shall determine. Pending preparation of the definitive bonds, the port authority may issue interim receipts or certificates which shall be exchanged for such definitive bonds.

      (c) Any resolution or resolutions authorizing any revenue bonds or any issue of revenue bonds may contain provisions, which shall be a part of the contract with the holders of the revenue bonds to be authorized, as to: (1) Pledging all or any part of the revenues of a project or any revenue-producing contract or contracts made by the port authority with any individual, partnership, corporation or association or other body, public or private, to secure the payment of the revenue bonds or of any particular issue of revenue bonds, subject to such agreements with bondholders as may then exist; (2) the rentals, fees and other charges to be charged, and the amounts to be raised in each year thereby, and the use and disposition of the revenues; (3) the setting aside of reserves or sinking funds or other funds or accounts as the port authority may establish and the regulation and disposition thereof, including requirements that any such funds and accounts be held separate from or not be commingled with other funds of the port authority; (4) limitations on the right of the port authority or its agent to restrict and regulate the use of the project; (5) limitations on the purpose to which the proceeds of sale of any issue of revenue bonds then or thereafter to be issued may be applied and pledging such proceeds to secure the payment of the revenue bonds or any issue of the revenue bonds; (6) limitations on the issuance of additional bonds, the terms upon which additional bonds may be issued and secured, the refunding of outstanding bonds; (7) the procedure, if any, by which the terms of any contract with bondholders may be amended or abrogated, the amount of bonds the holders of which must consent thereto, and the manner in which such consent may be given; (8) limitations on the amount of moneys derived from the project to be expended for operating, administrative or other expenses of the port authority; (9) defining the acts or omissions to act which shall constitute a default in the duties of the port authority to holders of its obligations and providing the rights and remedies of such holders in the event of a default; (10) the mortgaging of a project and the site thereof for the purpose of securing the bondholders; and (11) provisions for the execution of reimbursement agreements or similar agreements in connection with credit facilities, including, but not limited to, letters of credit or policies of bond insurance, remarketing agreements and agreements for the purpose of moderating interest rate fluctuations.

      (d) If any member whose signature or a facsimile of whose signature appears on any bonds or coupons ceases to be such member before delivery of such bonds, such signature or such facsimile shall nevertheless be valid and sufficient for all purposes the same as if he had remained in office until such delivery. Notwithstanding any of the other provisions of sections 7-329a to 7-329f, inclusive, or any recitals in any bonds issued under the provisions of said sections, all such bonds shall be deemed to be negotiable instruments under the provisions of the general statutes.

      (e) Unless otherwise provided by the ordinance creating the port authority, bonds may be issued under the provisions of sections 7-329a to 7-329u, inclusive, without obtaining the consent of any commission, board, bureau or agency of the state or of any political subdivision, and without any other proceedings or the happening of other conditions or things than those proceedings, conditions or things which are specifically required by said sections.

      (f) The port authority shall have power out of any funds available therefor to purchase its bonds or notes. The port authority may hold, pledge, cancel or resell such bonds, subject to and in accordance with agreements with bondholders.

      (g) A port authority shall cause a copy of any bond resolution adopted by it to be filed for public inspection in its office and in the office of the clerk of each participating municipality and may thereupon cause to be published at least once in a newspaper published or circulating in each participating municipality a notice stating the fact and date of such adoption and the places where such bond resolution has been so filed for public inspection and also the date of the first publication of such notice and also stating that any action or proceeding of any kind or nature in any court questioning the validity or proper authorization of bonds provided for by the bond resolution, or the validity of any covenants, agreements or contracts provided for by the bond resolution, shall be commenced within twenty days after the first publication of such notice. If any such notice is published and if no action or proceeding questioning the validity or proper authorization of bonds provided for by the bond resolution referred to in such notice, or the validity of any covenants, agreements or contracts provided for by the bond resolution is commenced or instituted within twenty days after the first publication of said notice, then all residents and taxpayers and owners of property in each participating municipality and all other persons shall be forever barred and foreclosed from instituting or commencing any action or proceeding in any court, or from pleading any defense to any action or proceeding, questioning the validity or proper authorization of such bonds, or the validity of such covenants, agreements or contracts, and said bonds, covenants, agreements and contracts shall be conclusively deemed to be valid and binding obligations in accordance with their terms and tenor.

      (h) Notwithstanding any other provision of the general statutes, (1) the state shall not, now or in the future, have any liability or responsibility with regard to any obligation issued by the port authority, and (2) no political subdivision of the state shall, now or in the future, have any liability or responsibility with regard to any obligation issued by the port authority except as expressly provided in sections 7-329a to 7-329u, inclusive.

      (P.A. 98-240, S. 7; P.A. 06-196, S. 40.)

      History: P.A. 06-196 made a technical change in Subsec. (a), effective June 7, 2006.