380. Further additional powers of the authority to finance certain local highway and bridge improvements and payments to the authority. 1. (a) The authority is hereby authorized, as additional corporate purposes thereof: (i) to issue bonds and notes and to incur obligations secured by the moneys as provided in the service contracts authorized pursuant to section eleven of chapter three hundred twenty-nine of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-one, as amended; (ii) to make available the proceeds from the sale of such bonds and notes, net of all costs to the authority in connection therewith, for the purposes of financing all or a portion of the capital costs of local highway and bridge projects pursuant to sections ten-c, ten-f and ten-g of the highway law and sections sixteen and sixteen-a of the chapter of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-one which enacted this section, section eighty-b of the highway law and section fifteen of chapter three hundred twenty-nine of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-one which enacted this section, and project costs for: construction, reconstruction, improvement, reconditioning and preservation of rail freight facilities and intercity rail passenger facilities and equipment; construction, reconstruction, improvement, reconditioning and preservation of state, municipal and privately owned ports; construction, reconstruction, improvement, reconditioning and preservation of municipal airports; privately owned airports and aviation capital facilities, excluding airports operated by the state or operated by a bi-state municipal corporate instrumentality for which federal funding is not available provided the project is consistent with an approved airport layout plan; construction, reconstruction, enhancement, improvement, replacement, reconditioning, restoration, rehabilitation and preservation of state, county, town, city and village roads, highways, parkways and bridges, and construction, reconstruction, improvement, reconditioning and preservation of fixed ferry facilities of municipal and privately owned ferry lines for transportation purposes; (iii) to enter into agreements with the commissioner with respect to financing any such local highways and bridges owned, maintained or operated by a municipality, and (iv) to enter into service contracts, contracts, agreements, deeds and leases with the director of the budget or the commissioner of transportation and project sponsors and others to provide for the financing by the authority of project costs for: construction, reconstruction, improvement, reconditioning and preservation of rail freight facilities and intercity rail passenger facilities and equipment; construction, reconstruction, improvement, reconditioning and preservation of state, municipal and privately owned ports; construction, reconstruction, improvement, reconditioning and preservation of municipal airports; privately owned airports and aviation capital facilities, excluding airports operated by the state or operated by a bi-state municipal corporate instrumentality for which federal funding is not available provided the project is consistent with an approved airport layout plan; construction, reconstruction, enhancement, improvement, replacement, reconditioning, restoration, rehabilitation and preservation of state, county, town, city and village roads, highways, parkways and bridges; and construction, reconstruction, improvement, reconditioning and preservation of fixed ferry facilities of municipal and privately owned ferry lines for transportation purposes. The director of the budget and the commissioner of transportation are each hereby authorized to enter into service contracts, contracts, agreements, deeds and leases with the authority, project sponsors or others to provide for the financing by the authority of the project costs specified in subparagraph (iv) of the preceding sentence.
(b) Such obligations shall be issued or incurred with the approval of the director of the budget and shall be special limited obligations of the authority secured by and payable solely out of amounts appropriated by the legislature as authorized pursuant to such section eleven of chapter three hundred twenty-nine of laws of nineteen hundred ninety-one, as amended, and any other funds appropriated by the legislature to the authority therefor without recourse against any other assets, revenues or funds of or other payments due to the authority.
(d) Such obligations shall contain on the face thereof a statement to the effect that they shall not be deemed to be an obligation of the state and that the state shall not be liable thereon.
(e) All of the provisions of this title relating to bonds and notes, which are not inconsistent with the provisions of this section, shall apply to obligations authorized by this section, including but not limited to the power to issue renewal notes or refunding bonds thereof.
(f) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law, any place where reference to paragraph (c) of this subdivision is made in law it shall be deemed to be a reference to paragraph (b) of this subdivision as relettered by chapter six hundred thirty-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-six which added this paragraph.
2. Not less than one hundred twenty days before the beginning of each state fiscal year, the chairman of the authority shall certify to the comptroller and to the director of the budget a schedule of anticipated cash requirements for such fiscal year. The total amount so certified for such fiscal year shall be equal to the total amount of the debt service due or expected to be due during such fiscal year on obligations of the authority incurred pursuant to subdivision one of this section, including payments of interest and principal (including sinking fund payments), together with:
(a) the amount, if any, due to any provider of any insurance policy, letter of credit or other letter of enhancement or a related facility with respect to such obligations, representing payments made by it as provided in the applicable resolution or trust indenture as a result of any previous failure of the state to make any payment provided for in this section, including any related reasonable interest, fees or charges so provided;
(b) the amount, if any, required to restore any applicable reserve fund to the applicable reserve fund requirement to the extent any deficiency therein has resulted directly or indirectly from failure by the state to make any payment provided for in this section;
(c) the amount, if any, required to be rebated to the United States to provide for continued exclusion from federal income taxation of interest on obligations of the authority; and
(d) the expenses of the establishment and continued operating expenses of the authority relating to local highway and bridge projects and project costs for: construction, reconstruction, improvement, reconditioning and preservation of rail freight facilities and intercity rail passenger facilities and equipment; construction, reconstruction, improvement, reconditioning and preservation of state, municipal and privately owned ports; construction, reconstruction, improvement, reconditioning and preservation of municipal airports; privately owned airports and aviation capital facilities, excluding airports operated by the state or operated by a bi-state municipal corporate instrumentality for which federal funding is not available provided the project is consistent with an approved airport layout plan; construction, reconstruction, enhancement, improvement, replacement, reconditioning, restoration, rehabilitation and preservation of state, county, town, city and village roads, highways, parkways and bridges; and construction, reconstruction, improvement, reconditioning and preservation of fixed ferry facilities of municipal and privately owned ferry lines for transportation purposes, funded pursuant to section eleven of chapter three hundred twenty-nine of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-one, as amended, including, but not limited to, trustees' fees, fees payable to providers of credit facilities, fees for issuing and paying agents, remarketing agents and dealers, legal counsel, financial or other advisors or consultants, independent auditors, providers of interest rate exchange agreements, rating agencies, transfer or information agents, the publication of advertisements and notices, surety arrangements, and printer's fees or charges incurred by the authority to comply with applicable federal and state securities and tax laws; and any other costs of issuance in excess of the amount provided therefor from the proceeds of the sale of such obligations, to the extent that any of the foregoing amounts or expenses are not to be paid from other resources available to the authority for such purpose.
3. The chairman of the authority may revise such certification at such times as shall be determined by the chairman; provided, however, that the chairman of the authority shall revise such certification not later than thirty days after the issuance of any obligations authorized pursuant to subdivision one of this section including refunding bonds, and the adoption of any interest rate exchange or other financial arrangement affecting the cash requirements of the authority with respect to the obligations incurred pursuant to this section.
4. Such certification shall provide for payments on such dates as the authority deems appropriate to ensure that sufficient funds will be available from the sources identified in this section to enable it to meet its current obligations with respect to those obligations incurred pursuant to this section as they become due.
5. Upon receipt of such certification, or any revision thereof, the comptroller shall pay such amount to the authority in accordance with such certification, from the service contracts authorized pursuant to section eleven of chapter 329 of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-one, as amended, or from any other amount appropriated for such purpose. Such payments shall be made on or before the date specified in each certificate or within thirty days after such receipt, whichever is later, provided that all such amounts shall have been first appropriated by the state.
6. The state, acting through the director of the budget, and the authority may enter into, amend, modify, or rescind one or more agreements providing for the specific manner, timing, and amount of payments to be made under this section, but only in conformity with this section. The agreement of the state contained in this section shall be deemed executory only to the extent of appropriations available for payments under this section and no liability on account of any such payment shall be incurred by the state beyond such appropriations.
7. The authorization, sale and issuance of bonds, notes or other obligations pursuant to this section shall not be deemed an action as such term is defined in article eight of the environmental conservation law for the purposes of such article. Such exemption shall be strictly limited in its application to such financing activities of the authority and does not exempt the department of transportation or any other entity from compliance with such article.
Last modified: February 3, 2019