3340-3347
PUBLIC UTILITIES CODE
SECTION 3340-3347
3340. The authority is authorized and empowered to do any of the following: (a) Adopt an official seal. (b) Sue and be sued in its own name. (c) Employ or contract with officers and employees to administer the authority. The authority may contract for the services of a chief executive officer, who shall serve at the pleasure of the board. If the chief executive officer contracts for the services of any other officer or employee, the contract shall be subject to the approval of the board. (d) Exercise the power of eminent domain. (e) Adopt rules and regulations for the regulation of its affairs and the conduct of its business. (f) Do all things generally necessary or convenient to carry out its powers under, and the purposes of, this division. 3341. In connection with the purposes of this division, the authority may do any or all of the following: (a) Issue bonds, from time to time, as further provided in Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 3380.1), to pay all or part of the cost of any enterprise, project, or program, or to otherwise carry out the purposes of this division. (b) Enter into joint powers agreements with eligible public agencies pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 6500) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code. (c) Subject to any statutory or constitutional limitation on their use, do any of the following as may, in the determination of the authority, be necessary or convenient for the successful development, conduct, or financing of a project, program, or enterprise, or for carrying out the purposes of this division: (1) Engage the services, including, without limitation, the services of private consultants; attorneys; financial professionals and advisors; engineers; architects; construction, land use and environmental experts; and accountants, to render professional and technical assistance and advice. (2) Contract for engineering, architectural, accounting, or other services of appropriate state agencies. (3) Pay the reasonable costs, including, without limitation, costs of consulting engineers, architects, accountants, and construction, land use, and environmental experts employed by the authority or any participating party. Except as otherwise provided in Section 3341.5, those costs shall be recovered from participating parties. (d) Acquire, lease, take title to, and sell by installment sale or otherwise, lands, structures, real or personal property, rights, rights-of-way, franchises, easements, and other interests in lands that are located within the state, as the authority determines to be necessary or convenient for an enterprise or the financing of a project, upon terms and conditions the authority considers to be reasonable. (e) Make, receive, or serve as a conduit for the making of, or otherwise provide for, grants, contributions, guarantees, insurance, credit enhancements or liquidity facilities, or other financial enhancements to a participating party as financial assistance for a project or program. The sources may include bond proceeds, dedicated taxes, state appropriations, federal appropriations, federal grants and loan funds, public and private sector retirement system funds, and proceeds of loans from the Pooled Money Investment Account, or any other source of money, property, labor, or other things of value. (f) Make loans to any participating party, either directly or by making a loan to a lending institution or other financial intermediary, in connection with the financing of a project or program in accordance with an agreement between the authority and a participating party, either as a sole lender or in participation with other lenders. (g) Make loans to any participating party, either directly or by making a loan to a lending institution, in accordance with an agreement between the authority and the participating party to refinance indebtedness incurred by the participating party in connection with projects undertaken and completed prior to any agreement with the authority or expectation that the authority would provide financing, either as a sole lender or in participation with other lenders. The power generated by those projects shall be subject to the terms and conditions specified by the authority in the agreement and pursuant to Section 3351. (h) Mortgage all or any portion of the authority's interest in a project or enterprise and the property on which any project or enterprise is located, whether owned or thereafter acquired, including the granting of a security interest in any property, tangible or intangible. (i) Assign or pledge all or any portion of the authority's interest in assets, things of value, mortgages, deeds of trust, bonds, bond purchase agreements, loan agreements, indentures of mortgage or trust, or similar instruments, notes, and security interests in property, tangible or intangible and the revenues therefrom, of a participating party to which the authority has made loans, and the revenues therefrom, including payment or income from any interest owned or held by the authority, for the benefit of the holders of bonds. (j) Lease the project being financed to a participating party, upon terms and conditions that the authority deems proper; charge and collect rents therefor; terminate any lease upon the failure of the lessee to comply with any of the obligations thereof; include in any lease, if desired, provisions that the lessee shall have options to renew the lease for a period or periods, and at rents determined by the authority; purchase any or all of the project; or, upon payment of all the indebtedness incurred by the authority for the financing of the project, the authority may convey, any or all of the project to the lessee or lessees. The power generated by those projects shall be subject to the terms and conditions specified by the authority in the agreement and pursuant to Section 3351. (k) (1) Issue, obtain, or aid in obtaining, from any department or agency of the United States, from other agencies of the state, or from any private company, any insurance or guarantee to or for, or any letter or line of credit regarding, the payment or repayment of interest or principal, or both, or any part thereof, on any bond, loan, lease, or obligation or any instrument evidencing or securing the same, made or entered into pursuant to this division. (2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this division, enter into any agreement, contract or other instrument regarding any insurance, guarantee, letter or line of credit specified in paragraph (1), and accept payment in the manner and form provided therein in the event of default by a participating party. (3) Assign any insurance, guarantee, letter or line of credit specified in paragraph (1) as security for bonds issued by the authority. (l) Enter into any agreement or contract, execute any instrument, and perform any act or thing necessary or convenient to, directly or indirectly, secure the authority's bonds or a participating party's obligations to the authority, including, but not limited to, bonds of a participating party purchased by the authority for retention or sale, with funds or moneys that are legally available and that are due or payable to the participating party by reason of any grant, allocation, apportionment, or appropriation of the state or agencies thereof, to the extent that the Controller shall be the custodian at any time of these funds or moneys, or with funds or moneys that are or will be legally available to the participating party, the authority, or the state or any agencies thereof by reason of any grant, allocation, apportionment, or appropriation of the federal government or agencies thereof; and in the event of written notice that the participating party has not paid or is in default on its obligations to the authority, direct the Controller to withhold payment of those funds or moneys from the participating party over which it is or will be custodian and to pay the same to the authority or its assignee, or direct the state or any agencies thereof to which any grant, allocation, apportionment, or appropriation of the federal government or agencies thereof is or will be legally available to pay the same upon receipt to the authority or its assignee, until the default has been cured and the amounts then due and unpaid have been paid to the authority or its assignee, or until arrangements satisfactory to the authority have been made to cure the default. (m) Purchase, with the proceeds of the authority's bonds, bonds issued by, or for the benefit of, any participating party in connection with a project, pursuant to a bond purchase agreement or otherwise. Bonds purchased pursuant to this division may be held by the authority, pledged or assigned by the authority, or sold to public or private purchasers at public or negotiated sale, in whole or in part, separately or together with other bonds issued by the authority, and notwithstanding any other provision of law, may be bought by the authority at private sale. (n) Enter into purchase and sale agreements with all entities, public and private, including state and local government pension funds, with respect to the sale or purchase of bonds. 3341.1. In connection with an enterprise, the authority may do any or all of the following: (a) Acquire any enterprise by gift, purchase, or eminent domain as necessary to achieve the purposes of the authority pursuant to Sections 3310 and 3352. (b) Construct or improve any enterprise. By gift, lease, purchase, eminent domain, or otherwise, it may acquire any real or personal property, for an enterprise, except that no property of a state public body may be acquired without its consent. The authority may sell, lease, exchange, transfer, assign, or otherwise dispose of any real or personal property or any interest in such property. It may lay out, open, extend, widen, straighten, establish, or change the grade of any real property or public rights-of-way necessary or convenient for any enterprise. (c) Operate, maintain, repair, or manage all or any part of any enterprise, including the leasing for commercial purposes of surplus space or other space that is not economic to use for such enterprise. (d) Adopt reasonable rules or regulations for the conduct of the enterprise. (e) Prescribe, revise, and collect charges for the services, facilities, or energy furnished by the enterprise. The charges shall be established and adjusted so as to provide funds sufficient with other revenues and moneys available therefor, if any, to (1) pay the principal of and interest on outstanding bonds of the authority financing such enterprise as the same shall become due and payable, (2) create and maintain reserves, including, without limitation, operating and maintenance reserves and reserves required or provided for in any resolution authorizing, or trust agreement securing such bonds, and (3) pay operating and administrative costs of the authority. (f) Execute all instruments, perform all acts, and do all things necessary or convenient in the exercise of the powers granted by this article. 3341.2. In connection with a project, the authority may do any or all of the following: (a) Determine the location and character of any project to be financed under this division. (b) Acquire, construct, enlarge, remodel, renovate, alter, improve, furnish, equip, own, maintain, manage, repair, operate, lease as lessee or lessor, or regulate any project to be financed under this division. (c) Contract with any participating party for the construction of a project by such participating party. (d) Enter into leases and agreements, as lessor or lessee, with any participating party relating to the acquisition, construction, and installation of any project, including real property, buildings, equipment, and facilities of any kind or character. (e) Establish, revise, charge and collect rates, rents, fees and charges for a project. The rates, rents, fees, and charges shall be established and adjusted in respect of the aggregate rates, rents, fees, and charges from all projects so as to provide funds sufficient with other revenues and moneys available therefor, if any, to (1) pay the principal of and interest on outstanding bonds of the authority financing such project as the same shall become due and payable, (2) create and maintain reserves, including, without limitation, operating and maintenance reserves and reserves required or provided for in any resolution authorizing, or trust agreement securing such bonds, and (3) pay operating and administrative costs of the authority. (f) Enter into contracts of sale with any participating party covering any project financed by the authority. (g) As an alternative to leasing or selling a project to a participating party, finance the acquisition, construction, or installation of a project by means of a loan to the participating party. (h) Execute all instruments, perform all acts, and do all things necessary or convenient in the exercise of the powers granted by this article. 3341.5. In connection with the purposes of this division, the authority shall charge and equitably apportion among participating parties or other public or private entities the authority's administrative costs and expenses, including operating and financing-related costs incurred in the exercise of the powers and duties conferred by this division, except to the extent that those costs are related to one of the authority's own enterprises or projects, in which case costs shall be included in the cost of generating that electricity as provided in Section 3351. 3342. The fiscal powers granted to the authority by this division may be exercised without regard or reference to any other department, division, or agency of the state, except the Legislature or as otherwise stated in this division. This division shall be deemed to provide an alternative method of doing the things authorized by this division, and shall be regarded as supplemental and additional to powers conferred by other laws. 3343. No member of the board or any person executing bonds of the authority pursuant to this division shall be personally liable on the bonds or subject to any personal liability or accountability by reason of the issuance thereof. 3344. All expenses incurred in carrying out this division shall be payable solely from funds provided under the authority of this division and no liability or obligation shall be imposed upon the State of California and, none shall be incurred by the authority beyond the extent to which moneys shall have been provided under this division. Under no circumstances shall the authority create any debt, liability, or obligation on the part of the State of California payable from any source whatsoever other than the moneys provided under this division. 3345. The authority's operating budget shall be subject to review and appropriation in the annual Budget Act. For purposes of this section, the authority's operating budget shall include the costs of personnel, administration, and overhead. 3346. The authority shall, on or before January 1 of each year, prepare and submit to the Governor, the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, and the chairperson of the committee in each house that considers appropriations, a report regarding its activities and expenditures pursuant to this division. 3347. The Bureau of State Audits shall perform an evaluation of the effectiveness of the authority's efforts in achieving its purposes as described in Section 3310. The evaluation shall include recommendations as to whether there is a continued need for the authority beyond January 1, 2007. The evaluation shall be submitted to the Governor and the Legislature on or before January 1, 2005.