§ 3002 — Legislative findings and statement of purposes

§ 3002. Legislative findings and statement of purposes. It is hereby\nfound and declared that, by reason of the severe economic and social\ndislocations of recent years, there has been a great increase in the\nneed and demand for public services at a time when financing such\nservices has become increasingly difficult, and that, due to a general\ndecline in investor acceptance of local government securities and to\nalmost unprecedented interest rates, a number of municipalities in this\nstate have, despite the financial soundness of their obligations,\nrecently faced increased difficulty in selling a sufficient amount of\ntheir securities to enable them to refund their outstanding obligations\nor to meet their cash requirements. For the immediate future, this\nincreased difficulty has caused concern that such municipalities may be\nunable to provide, without interruption, many services essential to\ntheir inhabitants while also meeting their obligations to the holders of\ntheir outstanding securities as they come due. It is in the public\ninterest and is the policy of this state to assist municipalities\nattempting to provide, without interruption, services essential to their\ninhabitants while meeting their obligations to the holders of their\noutstanding securities. The impairment of the credit of the\nmunicipalities within the state may affect the ability of the state to\nissue its own obligations at normal interest rates. Such effect is a\nmatter of state concern. It is further declared that the state should\nexercise its power in the interest of such municipalities and should\nimplement such policy by authorizing on behalf of each municipality\nwhich is found by the legislature to require the state's assistance and\nwhich expressly requests such assistance, the creation of a state\ninstrumentality to be a body corporate and politic, having full powers\nto borrow money and to issue its bonds and notes for the purpose of\nproviding to that municipality assistance sufficient to enable it to\navoid the interruption of services essential to its inhabitants while\nmeeting its obligations to the holders of its outstanding securities. It\nis further declared to be in the public interest and is the policy of\nthis state that each such instrumentality shall provide financial\nassistance to a municipality only if that municipality agrees to make\nand observe such changes in its record keeping, accounting, budgeting\nand financial management practices as that instrumentality may be\nauthorized, by the special law creating it, to require as a condition of\nproviding financial assistance.\n