§ 32:3-5 — Powers of commission.

R.S.32:3-5. For the effectuation of its authorized purposes the commission is hereby granted the following powers: (a) To have perpetual succession. (b) To sue and be sued. (c) To adopt and use an official seal. (d) To elect a chairman, vice-chairman, secretary and treasurer, and to adopt suitable bylaws for the management of its affairs. The secretary and treasurer need not be members of the commission. (e) To appoint, hire, or employ counsel and such other officers and such agents and employees as it may require for the performance of its duties, by contract or otherwise, and fix and determine their qualifications, duties and compensation, provided that the employees of the Delaware River Port Authority shall be subject to the "New Jersey Employer-Employee Relations Act," P.L.1941, c.100 (C.34:13A-1 et seq.) and shall have all of the rights provided to employees by that act, including but not limited to, the right to form, join or assist an employee organization, and the right to have that employee organization engage in collective bargaining on behalf of the employees. (f) To enter into contracts. (g) To acquire, own, hire, use, operate and dispose of personal property. (h) To acquire, own, use, lease, operate, mortgage and dispose of real property and interests in real property, and to make improvements thereon. (i) To grant by franchise, lease or otherwise, the use of any property or facility owned or controlled by the commission and to make charges therefor. (j) To borrow money upon its bonds or other obligations, either with or without security, and to make, enter into and perform any and all such covenants and agreements with the holders of such bonds or other obligations as the commission may determine to be necessary or desirable for the security and payment thereof, including without limitation of the foregoing, covenants and agreements as to the management and operation of any property or facility owned or controlled by it, the tolls, rents, rates or other charges to be established, levied, made and collected for any use of any such property or facility, or the application, use and disposition of the proceeds of any bonds or other obligations of the commission or the proceeds of any such tolls, rents, rates or other charges or any other revenues or moneys of the commission. (k) To exercise the right of eminent domain within the Port District. (l) To determine the exact location, system and character of and all other matters in connection with any and all improvements or facilities which it may be authorized to own, construct, establish, effectuate, operate or control. (m) In addition to the foregoing, to exercise the powers, duties, authority and jurisdiction heretofore conferred and imposed upon the aforesaid Delaware River Joint Commission by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or the State of New Jersey, or both of the said two States. (n) To exercise all other powers not inconsistent with the constitutions of the two States or of the United States, which may be reasonably necessary or incidental to the effectuation of its authorized purposes or to the exercise of any of the foregoing powers, except the power to levy taxes or assessments, and generally to exercise in connection with its property and affairs, and in connection with property within its control, any and all powers which might be exercised by a natural person or a private corporation in connection with similar property and affairs. (o) To acquire, purchase, construct, lease, operate, maintain and undertake any project, including any terminal, terminal facility, transportation facility, or any other facility of commerce and to make charges for the use thereof. (p) To make expenditures anywhere in the United States and foreign countries, to pay commissions, and hire or contract with experts or consultants, and otherwise to do indirectly anything which the commission may do directly. (q) To establish one or more operating divisions as deemed necessary to exercise the power and effectuate the purposes of this agreement. The commission shall also have such additional powers as may hereafter be delegated to or imposed upon it from time to time by the action of either State concurred in by legislation of the other. It is the policy and intent of the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey that the powers granted by this article shall be so exercised that the American system of free competitive private enterprise is given full consideration and is maintained and furthered. In making its reports and recommendations to the Legislatures of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey on the need for any facility or project which the commission believes should be undertaken for the promotion and development of the Port District, the commission shall include therein its findings which fully set forth that the facility or facilities operated by private enterprise within the Port District and which it is intended shall be supplanted or added to are not adequate. 1931, c.391, Art.IV amended 1951, c.288, s.1(3); 1991, c.515, s.5; 2009, c.210, s.2..