§ 1689-A — Public school districts; authority financing of eligible school construction projects; rebuilding schools to uphold education (RESCUE)

§ 1689-a. Public school districts; authority financing of eligible\nschool construction projects; rebuilding schools to uphold education\n(RESCUE). 1. The dormitory authority is authorized to finance eligible\nschool construction projects for those public school districts which are\napproved by the commissioner of education to receive aid apportionment\nfor rebuilding schools to uphold education (RESCUE) pursuant to\nsubdivision ten of section thirty-six hundred forty-one of the education\nlaw.\n 2. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law\nto the contrary, and subject to the making of annual appropriations\ntherefor by the legislature, in order to assist the dormitory authority\nin the financing and refinancing of such eligible school construction\nprojects, the director of the budget is authorized in any state fiscal\nyear commencing April first, nineteen hundred ninety-nine through and\ninclusive of the state fiscal year commencing April first, two thousand\nfive to enter into one or more service contracts, none of which shall\nexceed thirty years in duration, with the dormitory authority, upon such\nterms as the director of the budget and the dormitory authority agree;\n (b) Any service contract entered into pursuant to paragraph (a) of\nthis subdivision or any payments made or to be made thereunder may be\nassigned and pledged by the dormitory authority as security for its\nbonds, notes, or other obligations;\n (c) Any such service contract shall provide that the obligation of the\ndirector of the budget or of the state to fund or to pay the amounts\ntherein provided for shall not constitute a debt of the state within the\nmeaning of any constitutional or statutory provision in the event the\ndormitory authority assigns or pledges the service contract payments as\nsecurity for its bonds, notes, or other obligations and shall be deemed\nexecutory only to the extent moneys are available and that no liability\nshall be incurred by the state beyond the moneys available for the\npurpose, and that such obligation is subject to annual appropriation by\nthe legislature;\n (d) Any service contract or contracts entered into pursuant to this\nsubdivision shall provide for state commitments to provide annually to\nthe dormitory authority a sum or sums, upon such terms and conditions as\nshall be deemed appropriate by the director of the budget, to fund the\nprincipal, interest, or other related expenses required for any bonds,\nnotes, or other obligations.\n 3. (a) The commissioner of education shall certify, from time to time,\nto the dormitory authority, the comptroller, the director of the\ndivision of the budget, the chairman of the senate finance committee and\nthe chairman of the assembly ways and means committee each school\ndistrict for which he has approved an aid apportionment for authority\nfinancing of an eligible school construction project pursuant to\nsubdivision ten of section thirty-six hundred forty-one of the education\nlaw. Such certification, which shall be made within thirty days after\nsuch approval or as soon thereafter as is practicable, shall identify\nthe amount of aid apportionment which has been approved for such school\ndistrict and shall estimate the date or dates when such project will be\nundertaken to assist the authority in establishing a schedule for\nfinancing such project. The commissioner shall notify the authority if\nthere is a change in such date.\n (b) On or before November fifteenth of each year and again on or after\nFebruary fifteenth of each year, the dormitory authority shall submit,\nand thereafter may resubmit, to the director of the budget, the state\ncomptroller, the commissioner of education, the chairman of the senate\nfinance committee and the chairman of the assembly ways and means\ncommittee a report setting forth the amounts, if any, of all annual\npayments estimated to be appropriated to the dormitory authority\npursuant to such service contracts between the dormitory authority and\nthe director of the division of the budget pursuant to this section. An\neligible school construction project shall not be financed pursuant to\nthis section prior to the state fiscal year commencing April first,\nnineteen hundred ninety-nine, provided that application for approval of\nany such project by the commissioner of education may be processed prior\nto such date.\n 4. (a) To obtain funds for the purposes of this section, the authority\nshall have power from time to time, in accordance with a schedule\ncertified to the authority by the commissioner of education identifying\neligible school construction projects approved for the payment of aid\napportionments pursuant to subdivision ten of section thirty-six hundred\nforty-one of the education law, to issue negotiable bonds or notes of\nthe authority. Unless the context shall clearly indicate otherwise,\nwhenever the words "bond" or "bonds" are used in this section, such\nwords shall include a note or notes of the authority.\n (b) The dormitory authority shall not issue any bonds or notes in an\namount in excess of one hundred ninety-five million dollars for the\npurposes of this section, excluding a principal amount of bonds or notes\nissued to fund one or more debt service reserve funds, to pay for the\ncosts of issuance of such bonds, and bonds or notes issued to refund or\notherwise repay such bonds, and bonds or notes previously issued. Except\nfor the purposes of complying with the internal revenue code, any\ninterest income earned on bond proceeds shall only be used to pay debt\nservice on such bonds or notes.\n In computing for the purposes of this paragraph, the aggregate amount\nof indebtedness evidenced by bonds and notes of the dormitory authority\nissued pursuant to this section, there shall be excluded the amount of\nsuch indebtedness represented by such bonds or notes issued to refund or\notherwise repay bonds or notes, provided that the amount so excluded\nunder this clause may exceed the principal amount of such bonds or notes\nthat were issued to refund or otherwise repay only if the present value\nof the aggregate debt service on the refunding or repayment bonds or\nnotes shall not have at the time of their issuance exceeded the present\nvalue of the aggregate debt service of the bonds or notes they were\nissued to refund or repay, such present value in each case being\ncalculated by using the effective interest rate of the refunding or\nrepayment bonds or notes, which shall be that rate arrived at by\ndoubling the semi-annual interest rate (compounded semi-annually)\nnecessary to discount the debt service payments on the refunding or\nrepayment bonds or notes from the payment date thereof to the date of\nissue of the refunding or repayment bonds or notes and to the price bid\ntherefor, or to the proceeds received by the dormitory authority from\nthe sale thereof, in each case including estimated accrued interest.\n 5. The state of New York hereby covenants with the purchasers, holders\nand owners from time to time of the bonds of the authority issued\npursuant to this section that it will not repeal, revoke, rescind,\nmodify or amend the provisions of this section which relate to the\nmaking of annual service contract payments to the authority with respect\nto such bonds as to limit, impair or impede the rights and remedies\ngranted to bondholders under this title or otherwise diminish the\nsecurity pledged to such purchasers, holders and owners or significantly\nimpair the prospect of payment of any such bond.\n