43.340.080 - Sale of rights in master settlement agreement.

Sale of rights in master settlement agreement.

(1) The governor is authorized to sell and assign to the authority all of the state's right to receive a portion of the state's annual share of the revenue derived from the master settlement agreement for litigation brought by the state against tobacco product manufacturers. The portion of the state's share sold and assigned shall be determined by the governor in an amount necessary to generate net proceeds to the state for deposit to the tobacco securitization trust account under RCW 43.340.120 up to four hundred fifty million dollars. The attorney general shall assist the governor in the review of all necessary documentation to effect the sale. The governor and the authority are authorized to take any action necessary to facilitate and complete the sale.

     (2) The sale made under this section is irrevocable so long as bonds issued under this chapter remain outstanding. The portion of the revenue sold to the authority shall be pledged to the bondholders. The sale and assignment shall constitute and be treated as a true sale and absolute transfer of the revenue so transferred and not as a pledge or other security interest granted by the state for any borrowing. The characterization of such a sale as an absolute transfer shall not be negated or adversely affected by the fact that only a portion of the revenue from the master settlement agreement is being sold and assigned, or by the state's acquisition or retention of an ownership interest in the portion of the revenue from the master settlement agreement not so assigned.

     (3) In addition to such other terms, provisions, and conditions as the governor and the authority may determine appropriate for inclusion in the sale agreements, the sale agreements shall contain (a) a covenant of the state that the state will not agree to any amendment of the master settlement agreement that materially and adversely affects the authority's ability to receive the portion of the state's share of master settlement agreement payments that have been sold to the authority; (b) a requirement that the state enforce, at its own expense, the provisions of the master settlement agreement that require the payment of the portion of the state's share of master settlement agreement payments that have been sold to the authority; and (c) a covenant that the state shall take no action that would adversely affect the tax-exempt status of any tax-exempt bonds of the authority.

     (4) On or after the effective date of the sale, the state shall not have any right, title, or interest in the portion of the state's share of the master settlement agreement revenue sold and such portion shall be the property of the authority and not the state, and shall be owned, received, held, and disbursed by the authority or its trustee or assignee, and not the state.

     (5) The terms of the state's sale to the authority of a portion of the master settlement agreement revenue shall provide that the portion shall be paid directly to the authority or its trustee or assignee. The revenue sold and assigned shall not be received in the treasury of the state and shall not be or deemed to be general state revenues as that term is used in Article VIII, section 1 of the state Constitution.

[2002 c 365 § 7.]