47-b. Mental hygiene improvement bonds and notes. 1. Definitions. For the purposes of section forty-seven and of this section:
a. "Community mental health and retardation facility" shall mean a building, a unit within a building, a laboratory, a classroom, a housing unit, a dining hall, an activities center, a library, or any structure on or improvement to real property of any kind or description, including fixtures and equipment which are an integral part of such building, unit or structure or improvement, a walkway, a roadway or a parking lot and improvements and connections for water, sewer, gas, electrical, telephone, heating, air conditioning and other utility services, or a combination of any of the foregoing, whether for patient care and treatment or staff, staff family or service use, located in a city, or in a county not wholly included within a city, authorized to provide community mental health services in accordance with the provisions of article forty-one of the mental hygiene law, which is utilized or to be utilized for the administration and conduct of programs for the mentally ill or the mentally retarded, or both, and for the provision of services therefor. A community mental health and retardation facility shall also mean and include a residential facility to be operated as a community residence for the mentally disabled, and a treatment facility for use in the conduct of an alcoholism treatment program or of a substance abuse treatment program as defined in the mental hygiene law.
b. "Mental hygiene facility" shall mean a building, a unit within a building, a laboratory, a classroom, a housing unit, a dining hall, an activities center, a library, or any structure on or improvement to real property of any kind or description, including fixtures and equipment which are an integral part of any such building, unit, structure or improvement, a walkway, a roadway or a parking lot, and improvements and connections for water, sewer, gas, electrical, telephone, heating, air conditioning and other utility services, or a combination of any of the foregoing, whether for patient care and treatment or staff, staff family or service use, located at or related to any state hospital, any state school, or any state psychiatric or research institute now or hereafter established under the professional jurisdiction, supervision and control of the state department of mental hygiene. A mental hygiene facility shall mean and include a "community mental health and retardation facility", unless such facility is expressly excepted or the context clearly requires otherwise, and shall also mean and include a treatment facility for use in the conduct of an alcoholism or substance abuse treatment program as defined in the mental hygiene law, unless such facility is expressly excepted or the context clearly requires otherwise. The definition contained in this subdivision shall not be construed to exclude therefrom a facility to be made available under license or permit from the health and mental hygiene facilities improvement corporation to a voluntary agency at the request of the commissioners of the offices of the department of mental hygiene having jurisdiction thereof for use in providing community mental health and retardation services, or for use in the conduct of an alcoholism or substance abuse treatment program.
c. "Mental hygiene improvement bonds" and "mental hygiene improvement notes" shall mean bonds and notes, respectively, issued by the agency pursuant to subdivision two of this section.
d. "Mental hygiene facilities improvement program" shall mean a program undertaken by the agency and the health and mental hygiene facilities improvement corporation for the purpose of constructing, acquiring, reconstructing, rehabilitating or improving mental hygiene facilities or causing such facilities to be constructed, acquired, reconstructed, rehabilitated or improved pursuant to the health and mental hygiene facilities improvement act and this article.
2. Additional powers of the agency.
a. The agency shall have power to lease one or more existing mental hygiene facilities from the trustees of the health and mental hygiene facilities improvement corporation and to construct, acquire, reconstruct, rehabilitate and improve new mental hygiene facilities at such facilities, or on any real property leased from the said corporation, and to cause such new facilities to be constructed, acquired, reconstructed, rehabilitated or improved by the trustees of the said corporation as its agent, all in accordance with a lease, sublease or other agreement entered into between the agency and the trustees of the said corporation pursuant to subdivision four of section nine of the health and mental hygiene facilities improvement act.
b. The agency shall have power and is hereby authorized from time to time to issue negotiable bonds and notes in conformity with applicable provisions of the uniform commercial code in such principal amount as, in the opinion of the agency, shall be necessary, after taking into account other monies which may be available for the purpose, to provide sufficient funds for the construction, acquisition, reconstruction, rehabilitation or improvement of mental hygiene facilities pursuant to the preceding paragraph of this subdivision, the payment of interest on mental hygiene improvement bonds and mental hygiene improvement notes issued for such purposes, the establishment of reserves to secure such bonds and notes, and all other expenditures of the agency incident to and necessary or convenient for any such construction, acquisition, reconstruction, rehabilitation or improvement; provided, however, that the agency shall not issue mental hygiene improvement bonds and mental hygiene improvement notes in an aggregate principal amount exceeding seven hundred five million dollars, excluding mental hygiene improvement bonds and mental hygiene improvement notes issued to refund outstanding mental hygiene improvement bonds or mental hygiene improvement notes.
3. Application of other provisions of article. Except as stated in section forty-seven, the other provisions of this article shall apply to mental hygiene improvement bonds and mental hygiene improvement notes issued by the agency pursuant to this section, provided, however, that such bonds and notes, subject to any agreements with the holders of particular bonds or notes pledging any specified portions thereof, shall be secured by a pledge to the payment thereof of (i) rentals paid to the agency with respect to mental hygiene facilities financed with the proceeds of such bonds and notes, and (ii) any other assets, monies or accounts pledged or assigned to the agency as security for the payment of such rentals, and provided further that no resolution or resolutions authorizing mental hygiene improvement bonds and mental hygiene improvement notes shall (i) pledge all or any part of the fees and charges made or received by the agency pursuant to subdivision eleven of section forty-four in connection with the making of mortgage loans or commitments therefor, or all or any part of the monies received in payment of such mortgage loans and interest thereon, or (ii) pledge all or any part of the mortgages of the agency or obligations securing the same, or (iii) provide as to the use and disposition of the gross income from mortgages owned by the agency or as to the payment of principal of mortgages owned by the agency, or (iv) pledge all or any part of the rentals paid to the agency under leases, subleases or other agreements for state university facilities or health facilities entered into by the agency in accordance with this article, or (v) pledge or assign all or any part of any other assets, monies or accounts pledged or assigned to the agency as security for the payment of rentals for such state university facilities or health facilities.
4. Mental hygiene facilities fund. The agency shall create and establish a special fund (herein referred to as mental hygiene facilities fund) and shall pay into such fund any monies which the agency shall receive in payment of rentals due under one or more leases, subleases or other agreements entered into pursuant to subdivision four of section nine of the health and mental hygiene facilities improvement act and any other monies which the agency shall receive from the health and mental hygiene facilities improvement corporation as security for or in payment of such rentals. Such monies and any other monies paid into the mental hygiene facilities fund may, in the discretion of the agency, but subject to agreements with the holders of mental hygiene improvement bonds and mental hygiene improvement notes, be used by the agency (a) for the repayment of advances, if any, from the state to the agency in connection with mental hygiene facilities, and any real property required therefor, in accordance with the provisions of repayment agreements related thereto which have been entered into with the director of the budget, (b) to pay all costs, expenses and charges of financing mental hygiene facilities including fees and expenses of trustees and paying agents, (c) to pay the administrative and other expenses of the agency allocable to the services performed by the agency in the financing of the construction, acquisition, reconstruction, rehabilitation or improvement of mental hygiene facilities and matters relating thereto, (d) for the payment of the principal of and interest on mental hygiene improvement bonds or mental hygiene improvement notes issued by the agency when the same shall become due whether at maturity or by call for redemption and for the payment of any redemption premium required to be paid where such bonds or notes are redeemed prior to their stated maturities, and to purchase mental hygiene improvement bonds or mental hygiene improvement notes issued by the agency, or (e) for such other corporate purposes of the agency relating to the carrying out of its functions, powers and duties with respect to the financing of the construction, acquisition, reconstruction, rehabilitation or improvement of mental hygiene facilities as the agency in its discretion shall determine and provide.
Last modified: February 3, 2019