The authority shall have the following powers, together with all powers incidental thereto or necessary to the discharge thereof in corporate form:
(1) To have succession by its corporate name for the duration of time (which may be perpetual, subject to Section 45-49A-64.19) specified in its certificate of incorporation.
(2) To sue and be sued in its own name in civil suits and actions and to defend suits against it.
(3) To adopt and make use of a corporate seal and to alter the same at pleasure.
(4) To adopt and alter bylaws for the regulation and conduct of its affairs and business.
(5) To acquire, receive, and take, by purchase, gift, lease, devise, or otherwise, and to hold property of every description, real, personal, or mixed, whether located in one or more counties or municipalities and whether located within or outside the authorizing municipality.
(6) To make, enter into, and execute such contracts, agreements, leases, and other instruments and to take other actions as may be necessary or convenient to accomplish any purpose for which the authority was organized or to exercise any power expressly granted hereunder.
(7) To plan, establish, develop, acquire, purchase, lease, construct, reconstruct, enlarge, improve, maintain, equip, and operate transit systems, whether located in one or more municipalities within the state; and without any requirement that such transit systems be interconnected or otherwise constitute an integrated operational unit, and to acquire real and personal property, franchises, and easements deemed necessary or desirable in connection therewith.
(8) To provide public transportation service within the state in any part thereof, upon such reasonable terms and for such reasonable rates and consideration as the board may prescribe.
(9) To sell and issue bonds of the authority in order to provide funds for any corporate function, use, or purpose, any such bonds to be payable solely from the sources specified in Section 45-49A-64.09.
(10) To assume obligations secured by a lien on, or payable out of or secured by a pledge of the revenues from, any transit system or any part thereof, that may be acquired by the authority, any obligation so assumed to be payable by the authority solely from the sources from which bonds of the authority may be made payable pursuant to Section 45-49A-64.09.
(11) To pledge for payment of any bonds issued or obligations assumed by the authority any revenues from which those bonds or obligations are made payable as herein provided.
(12) To execute and deliver, in accordance with this section and of Sections 45-49A-64.09 and 45-49A-64.10, mortgages and deed of trust and trust indentures, or either.
(13) To exercise the power of eminent domain in the manner provided in and subject to Title 18, provided however, that this subdivision shall not be deemed to authorize the authority to acquire, without the consent of the owner or owners thereof, any transit system from which public transportation service is at the time being furnished.
(14) To expend funds for the purchase or lease of materials, equipment, supplies, or other personal property without compliance with Acts 1967, No. 217, enacted at the 1967 Special Session of the Legislature of Alabama, as amended, that might otherwise be applicable, but only where the expenditure involves less than two thousand dollars ($2,000).
(15) Without regard to Acts 1967, No. 217, enacted at the 1967 Special Session of the Legislature of Alabama, as amended, or any law establishing a civil service or merit system that might otherwise be applicable, to appoint, employ, contract with, and provide for the compensation of, such officers, employees, and agents. Including, but without limitation to engineers, attorneys, management consultant, and fiscal advisers, as the business of the authority may require and at its option to provide a system of disability pay, employees insurance, retirement compensation, and pensions, or any of them.
(16) To make and enforce reasonable rules and regulations governing the use of any transit system owned or controlled by the authority.
(17) To provide for such insurance as the board may deem advisable.
(18) To invest any funds of the authority that the board may determine are not presently needed in the operation of its properties in bonds of the United States of America, bonds of the state, bonds of any county or municipality, and interest bearing bank deposits, or any thereof.
(19) To cooperate with the United States of America, any agency or instrumentality thereof, the state, any county, municipality, or other political subdivision of the state, and any public corporation organized under the laws of the state and to make such contracts with them, or any of them, as the board may deem advisable to accomplish the purposes for which the authority was established.
(20) To sell and convey any of its properties that may have become obsolete or worn out or that may no longer be needed or useful as a part of any transit system of the authority.
(21) To sell and convey, with or without valuable consideration, any of its transit systems or any portion of any thereof, to any one or more counties, municipalities, or public corporations organized under the laws of the state, which have the corporate power to operate the system, or portions thereof, so conveyed and the property and income of which are not subject to taxation; provided, that any such sale and conveyance may be made only with the consent of the authorizing municipality, such consent to be evidenced by a resolution adopted by the governing body of such municipality, and only if any such conveyance would not constitute a breach of any then outstanding mortgage and deed of trust, trust indenture, or other agreement to which the authority is a party.
(22) To enter into collective bargaining agreements with all or any part of the employees of the authority or with any groups or associations representing such employees.
(23) To enter into a management agreement or agreements with any person for the management by or for the authority of any transit system upon such terms and conditions as may be mutually agreeable.
(24) To require that all laborers and mechanics employed by contractors or subcontractors in the performance of construction work for the authority be paid wages at rates not less than those prevailing on similar construction in the locality where such work is performed as determined by the United States Secretary of Labor or any department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States or of the state.
(25) In the event the authority shall acquire an existing transit system to enter into such arrangements as may be necessary to protect the interest of employees of such acquired system including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing:
a. The preservation of rights, privileges, and benefits (including continuation of pension rights and benefits under existing collective bargaining agreements or otherwise).
b. The continuation of collective bargaining rights.
c. The protection of individual employees against a worsening of their positions with respect to their employment.
d. Assurance of employment to such employees of acquired transit systems and priority of reemployment of such employees terminated or laid off.
e. Paid training and retraining programs.
(26) To fix and revise from time to time reasonable rates, fees, and other charges for public transportation service furnished or to be furnished by any transit system owned or operated by the authority, and to collect all charges made by it.
Last modified: May 3, 2021