§ 31-7-116 — Provisions contained in obligations and security for obligations; procedures for issuance of bonds and bond anticipation notes; interest rates; limitations and conditions

(a) The obligations of any authority evidenced by bonds, bond anticipation notes, trust indentures, deeds to secure obligations, security agreements, or mortgages executed in connection therewith may contain such provisions not inconsistent with law as shall be determined by the board of directors of the authority. Such instruments may provide for the pledging of all or any part of the revenues of the authority and for the mortgaging, encumbering, or conveying of all or any part of its real or personal property; may covenant against pledging any or all of its revenues, income, or charges; and may further provide for the disposition of proceeds realized from the sale of any bonds and bond anticipation notes, for the replacement of lost, destroyed, stolen, or mutilated bonds and notes and for the payment and redemption of such bonds and notes. Undertakings of an authority may prescribe the procedure by which bondholders and noteholders may enforce rights against the authority and may provide for rights upon breach of any covenant, condition, or obligation of the authority. Bonds, resolutions, trust indentures, mortgages, or deeds to secure obligations executed by an authority and bond anticipation notes executed by an authority may contain such provisions not otherwise contrary to law as the authority shall deem necessary or desirable. (b) The proceeds derived from the sale of any bonds or bond anticipation notes issued by an authority shall be held and used for the ultimate purpose of paying, directly or indirectly as permitted in this article, all or part of the cost of any project or for the purpose of refunding any bond anticipation notes issued in accordance with this article or refunding any previously issued bonds of the authority. (c) All bonds and bond anticipation notes issued by an authority shall be revenue obligations of such authority and may be made payable out of any revenues or other receipts, funds, or moneys of the authority, subject only to any agreements with the holders of other bonds or bond anticipation notes or to particular security agreements pledging any particular revenues, receipts, funds, moneys, or other property. (d) Issuance by any authority of one or more series of bonds or bond anticipation notes for one or more purposes shall not preclude the authority from issuing other bonds or notes in connection with the same project or in connection with any other projects; provided, however, that the proceeding wherein any subsequent bonds or bond anticipation notes shall be issued shall recognize and protect any prior pledge or mortgage made in any prior security agreement or made for any prior issue of bonds or bond anticipation notes unless, in the resolution authorizing such prior issue, the right is expressly reserved to the authority to issue subsequent bonds or bond anticipation notes on a parity with such prior issue. (e) An authority shall have the power and is authorized, whenever revenue bonds of the authority shall have been validated as provided in this article, to issue from time to time its notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds as validated and to renew from time to time any such notes by the issuance of new notes, whether the notes to be renewed have or have not matured. The authority may issue notes only to provide funds which would otherwise be provided by the issuance of the bonds as validated. The notes may be authorized, sold, executed, and delivered in the same manner as bonds. As with its bonds, an authority may sell such notes at public or private sale. Any resolution or resolutions authorizing notes of an authority or any issue thereof may contain any provisions which an authority is authorized to include in any resolution or resolutions authorizing bonds of an authority or any issue thereof, and an authority may include in any notes any terms, covenants, or conditions which it is authorized to include in any bonds. Validation of such bonds shall be a condition precedent to the issuance of such notes, but it shall not be required that such notes be judicially validated. Bond anticipation notes shall not be issued in an amount exceeding the par value of the bonds in anticipation of which they are to be issued. (f) The interest rate on or rates to be borne by any bonds, notes, or obligations issued by the authority shall be fixed by the board of directors of the authority and any limitations with respect to interest rates found in Article 3 of Chapter 82 of Title 36 or in the usury laws of this state shall not apply to obligations issued under this article. (g) All revenue bonds issued by an authority under this article shall be issued and validated under and in accordance with the procedure therefor set forth in Article 3 of Chapter 82 of Title 36, as heretofore and hereafter amended, except as specifically set forth in this subsection: (1) Revenue bonds issued by an authority may be in such form, either coupon or fully registered, or both coupon and fully registered, and may be subject to such exchangeability and transferability provisions as the bond resolution authorizing the issuance of such bonds or any indenture or trust agreement may provide; (2) The signature of the clerk of the superior court in which any bonds are validated on the certificate of validation of such bonds may be affixed by facsimile or by manual execution; such entry shall be original evidence of the fact of the validation of any bond and shall be received as original evidence in any court in this state; (3) In lieu of specifying the rate or rates of interest which revenue bonds to be issued by an authority are to bear, the notice to the district attorney or the Attorney General and the notice to the public of the time, place, and date of the validation hearing may state that the bonds when issued will bear interest at a rate not exceeding a maximum per annum rate of interest specified in such notices or, in the event the bonds are to bear different rates of interest for different maturity dates, that none of such rates will exceed the maximum rate specified in the notices. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall be construed as prohibiting or restricting the right of the authority to sell such bonds at a discount, even if in so doing the effective interest cost resulting therefrom would exceed the maximum per annum interest rate specified in such notices; and (4) The term "cost of project" shall have the meaning prescribed in paragraph (2) of Code Section 31-7-112 whenever referred to in bond resolutions of an authority, bonds and bond anticipation notes issued by an authority, or notices and proceedings to validate such bonds. (h) Before issuing any bonds to finance any project, the authority shall obtain from the qualified sponsor of the project an undertaking that only eligible persons will be permitted to use or acquire any of the facilities constituting a part of the project or to enjoy or benefit from any of the services to be rendered in connection with any such project. (i) No bonds or bond anticipation notes except refunding bonds shall be issued by an authority under this article unless its board of directors shall adopt a resolution finding that the project for which such bonds or notes are to be issued will promote the objectives stated in subsection (b) of Code Section 31-7-111 and will increase or maintain employment in the territorial area of such authority. Nothing contained in this Code section shall be construed as permitting any authority created under this article or any qualified sponsor to finance, construct, or operate any project without obtaining any certificate of need or other approval, permit, or license which, under the laws of this state, is required in connection therewith.