§ 178 - Mitigation bonds
§ 178. Mitigation bonds
(a) From time to time the authority may issue mitigation bonds to pay costs of any mitigation effort which has been approved by the public service board in a qualified cost mitigation charge order, or to refund mitigation bonds previously issued by the authority. Mitigation bonds issued by the authority shall be in accordance with all terms and conditions set forth in the applicable qualified cost mitigation charge order.
(b) Mitigation bonds issued under this section shall bear the manual or facsimile signature of the manager or treasurer of the authority and the manual or facsimile signature of the chair or vice chair of the authority; provided, however, at least one of the foregoing signatures shall be manual unless the mitigation bonds are to be manually authenticated by a bank or trust company serving as trustee for the mitigation bonds. Mitigation bonds of the authority shall be sold by the signing officers at public or private sale, and the proceeds thereof shall be paid to the trustee under the security document which secures the mitigation bonds.
(c) No financing or security document, bond or other instrument issued or entered into in the name and on behalf of the state under this subchapter shall in any way obligate the state of Vermont to raise any money by taxation or use other funds for any purpose to pay any debt or meet any financial obligation to any person at any time in relation to a project financed in whole or in part by the issue of the authority's mitigation bonds under this subchapter, except from monies received or to be received under a financing or security document entered into under this subchapter or except as may be required by any other provision of law or from eligible charges to the extent eligible charges are property of the state of Vermont.
(d) Mitigation bonds of the authority authorized under this subchapter may, in accordance with a qualified cost mitigation charge order, be issued:
(1) in one or more series of one or more denominations and bearing one or more rates of interest;
(2) in registered form or in bearer form with or without privileges of conversion and reconversion from one form to the other;
(3) payable in serial installments, as term bonds, or as asset-backed securities, and any series may consist of any or all types of bonds; and
(4) subject to redemption prior to maturity, with or without the payment of any redemption premium, in accordance with the provisions of the security document.
(e) The price at which mitigation bonds of the authority are sold may be par or may be more or less than par, but the original purchaser of the mitigation bond shall be obligated to pay accrued interest for the period, if any, from the date of the mitigation bonds to the date of delivery.
(f) All mitigation bonds issued under this subchapter and interest coupons applicable thereto, if any, shall be deemed to be negotiable instruments and to be investment securities under the Uniform Commercial Code (Title 9A).
(g) The authority shall act in the name of the state of Vermont and on its behalf as its instrumentality for the execution of financing documents, security documents, mitigation bonds and other appropriate instruments, or for the taking of any action under this subchapter in accordance with a cost mitigation order of the public service board.
(h) Title to or any other interest in any eligible charges which are financed in whole or in part by mitigation bonds issued pursuant to this subchapter may be taken and held either in the name of the authority or in the name of the state of Vermont. In performing its functions under this section, the authority may exercise any and all powers conferred upon it by this subchapter.
(i) Mitigation bonds issued under the provisions of this subchapter shall not be deemed to constitute a general obligation debt or a general liability of the state. Each mitigation bond issued pursuant to this subchapter shall contain on the face thereof a statement to the effect that the authority shall not be obligated to pay the same nor the interest thereon except from the revenues or assets pledged therefor, and that neither the faith and credit nor the taxing power of the state is pledged to the payment of the principal of or the interest on such mitigation bonds. (Added 2001, No. 145 (Adj. Sess.), § 4.)