Section 5 Issuance of notes or bonds; registration system
Section 5. (a) For the purposes of this section, (i) the term “cost” shall mean any or all costs, whenever incurred, related to the turnpike or the metropolitan highway system or any part thereof including, without limitation, amounts for the following: acquisition, construction, maintenance, repair, reconstruction, improvement, rehabilitation, use, policing, administration, control or operation of facilities; acquisition of real or personal property; demolitions and relocations; labor, materials, machinery and equipment; services of architects, engineers and environmental and financial experts and other consultants; feasibility studies, plans, specifications and surveys; interest prior to and during the carrying out of any project and for a reasonable period thereafter; reserves for debt service or other capital or current expenses; costs of issuance; working capital, administrative expenses, legal expenses and other expenses necessary or incidental to the aforesaid, to the financing thereof and to the issuance of notes or bonds under the provisions of this chapter; and (ii) the words “costs of issuance” shall mean any amounts payable or reimbursable directly or indirectly by the authority and related to the sale and issuance of notes or bonds and the investment of the proceeds thereof and of revenues securing the same including, without limitation, printing costs, filing and recording fees, fees and charges of trustees, depositories, authenticating agents and paying agents, legal and auditing fees and charges, financial consultant fees, costs of credit ratings, premiums for insurance and fees payable for letters or lines of credit or other credit facilities securing notes or bonds, underwriting or placement costs, fees and charges for execution, transportation and safekeeping of notes or bonds, costs and expenses of refunding and other costs, fees and charges in connection with the foregoing.
(b) The authority is hereby authorized to provide by resolution at one time or from time to time for the issuance of notes or bonds of the authority to pay any costs relating to the ownership, construction, maintenance, repair, reconstruction, improvement, rehabilitation, use, policing, administration, control or operation of the turnpike or the metropolitan highway system or any part thereof and to fulfill any of its corporate purposes including, without limitation, for the purpose of providing funds (i) to refund or otherwise repay any or all debt or other obligations of the authority relating to the metropolitan highway system or any part thereof including, without limitation, any notes issued pursuant to chapter one hundred and two of the acts of nineteen hundred and ninety-five; (ii) to refund or otherwise pay any or all other debt or obligations of the authority relating to the turnpike, as defined in chapter 354 of the acts of 1952 in effect prior to the effective date of this section and to allocate such debt or obligations between the turnpike and the metropolitan highway system based upon the actual expenditure on the respective turnpike and the metropolitan highway system of the proceeds of the debt or other obligations to be refunded; (iii) to make any additional payments to the commonwealth relating to the acquisition by the authority of the central artery, the central artery north area and the Ted Williams tunnel pursuant to section twelve; and (iv) to pay any cost relating to the design, construction, operation, maintenance, administration or policing of the metropolitan highway system or any part thereof prior to their acquisition by the authority.
(c) The authority is hereby authorized and directed to provide by resolution at one time or from time to time for the issuance of notes or bonds of the authority to pay any or all debt or obligations assumed by the authority for any costs relating to the ownership, construction, maintenance, repair, reconstruction, improvement, rehabilitation, use, policing, administration, control or operation of the metropolitan highway system or any part thereof, as recommended in the report of the consultant team on the joint feasibility study regarding the metropolitan highway system dated December first, nineteen hundred and ninety-six authorized pursuant to section thirteen of chapter one hundred and two of the acts of nineteen hundred and ninety-five, as appearing in section one of chapter two hundred and seventy-three of the acts of nineteen hundred and ninety-five.
(d) The notes or bonds may be issued as general obligations of the authority or as special obligations of the authority payable, in the case of notes or bonds relating to the turnpike solely from turnpike revenues or any part thereof and, in the case of notes or bonds relating to the metropolitan highway system, solely from metropolitan highway system revenues or any part thereof. The authority may also provide by resolution for the issuance from time to time of temporary notes in anticipation of revenues to be collected or received by the authority or in anticipation of the receipt of other grants or aid.
The notes or bonds shall be dated, shall bear interest at such rates, either fixed or variable, and shall mature at such times, in the case of notes and any renewals thereof within ten years after their respective dates and, in the case of bonds, not exceeding forty years from their date, as may be determined by the authority and may be made subject to purchase or redeemable before maturity upon the satisfaction of such terms or conditions as may be specified by the authority or at the option of the authority or subject to purchase or redemption prior to maturity at the option of the holder thereof, in either case at such prices and under such terms and conditions as may be fixed by the authority prior to the issuance of the notes or bonds. The authority shall determine the form of the notes or bonds, including any interest coupons to be attached thereto, and shall fix the denominations of such notes or bonds and the places of payment of principal and interest which may be at any bank or trust company within or without the commonwealth.
(e) The notes or bonds shall be signed by the chairman of the authority or shall bear his facsimile signature and shall bear the official seal of the authority or a facsimile thereof, attested by the manual or facsimile signature of the chief financial officer of the authority, and any coupons attached thereto shall bear the facsimile signature of the chairman of the authority. In case an officer whose signature or a facsimile of whose signature shall appear on any notes, bonds or coupons shall cease to be such officer before the delivery of such notes, bonds or coupons, 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.
The authority may also establish and maintain a system of registration for any notes or bonds whereby the name of the registered owners, the rights evidenced by the notes or bonds, the transfer of the notes or bonds and such rights and other similar matters shall be recorded in books or other records maintained by or on behalf of the authority and no instrument evidencing such notes or bonds or rights shall be required to be delivered to the registered owner by the authority. A copy of the books or other records of the authority pertaining to any notes or bonds registered under such registration system certified by an authorized officer of the authority or by the agent of the authority maintaining such system shall be admissible in any proceeding without further authentication.
All notes or bonds issued under the provisions of this chapter shall have and are hereby declared to have all the qualities and incidents of negotiable instruments, including negotiability of investment securities, under the Uniform Commercial Code. The notes or bonds may be issued in coupon or in registered form or both as the authority may determine and provisions may be made for the registration of any coupon bonds as to principal alone and also as to both principal and interest for the reconversion into coupon bonds of any bonds registered as to both principal and interest and for the interchange of registered and coupon bonds.
The authority may sell such notes or bonds in such manner, either at public or private sale, and for such prices as it may determine to be in the best interest of the authority. The authority may enter into such arrangements as it deems necessary or appropriate in connection with such notes or bonds to obtain insurance or other credit or liquidity support for such notes or bonds.
(f) The authority shall have power from time to time to issue renewal notes, to issue bonds to pay notes and to refund any bonds by the issuance of new bonds, whether the bonds to be refunded have or have not matured, and may issue bonds partly to refund bonds then outstanding and partly for any other purpose. The refunding bonds shall be sold and the proceeds applied to the purchase, redemption or other payment of the bonds to be refunded. The authority shall, prior to the issuance of notes and bonds pursuant to this clause, notify the house committee on long term debt and capital expenditures and the house committee on ways and means in writing of the authority’s intention to issue such notes or bonds and the amounts thereof and a description of the notes or bonds they are replacing.
(g) Notes or bonds may be issued under the provisions of this chapter without obtaining the consent of any department, division, commission, board, bureau or agency and without any other proceedings or the happening of any other conditions or things other than those proceedings, conditions or things which are specifically required by this chapter.
(h) Neither the members of the board nor any person executing the notes or bonds shall be liable personally on the notes or bonds or be subject to any personal liability or accountability by reason of the issuance thereof.
(i) Notes or bonds issued under the provisions of this chapter shall not constitute a debt of the commonwealth or of any political subdivision thereof or a pledge of the faith and credit of the commonwealth or of any such political subdivision but such notes or bonds shall be payable solely from the funds herein provided therefor from turnpike revenues or metropolitan highway system revenues, as applicable. All such notes or bonds shall contain on their face a statement to the effect that neither the commonwealth nor the authority shall pay the same or the interest thereon except from revenues of the turnpike or the metropolitan highway system, as applicable, and that neither the faith and credit nor the taxing power of the commonwealth or of any political subdivision thereof is pledged to the payment of the principal of or the interest on such notes or bonds.
(j) In connection with or incidental to the acquisition or carrying of any investment or program of investment or carrying of notes or bonds, the authority may enter into such contracts as it may determine to be necessary or appropriate to place the investment or obligation of the authority, as represented by the notes or bonds, investment or program of investment and the contracts, in whole or in part, on such interest rate or cash flow basis as it may desire including, without limitation, interest rate swap agreements, insurance agreements, forward payment conversion agreements, futures contracts, contracts providing for payments based on levels of or changes in interest rates or stock or other indices, contracts to exchange cash flows or a series of payments and contracts to hedge payment, rate, spread or similar exposure including, without limitation, interest rate floors or caps, options, puts and calls. Such contracts shall contain such payment, security, default, remedy and other terms and conditions as the authority may deem appropriate and shall be entered into with such parties as the authority may select after giving due consideration, where applicable, for the creditworthiness of such parties, including any rating by a nationally recognized rating agency or any other criteria as may be appropriate.
(k) The authority may by resolution delegate to any officer of the authority the power to determine any of the matters set forth in this section.
(l) Notwithstanding any provision in this chapter to the contrary, the authority shall not issue any notes or bonds for any purpose authorized in this chapter without prior approval by law; provided, however, that the authority may, without such prior approval but upon written notification to the house committee on long term debt and capital expenditures and the house committee on ways and means, issue notes and bonds for the purpose of refunding any notes or bonds of the authority outstanding as of March first, nineteen hundred and ninety-seven or for the purpose of making any additional payment to the commonwealth relating to the acquisition by the authority of the central artery, the central artery north area and the Ted Williams tunnel pursuant to section twelve and for the purposes of notes and bonds issued pursuant to subsection (c).