2019 -- H 6242

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LC002872

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2019

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO WATERS AND NAVIGATION - RHODE ISLAND INFRASTRUCTURE

BANK

     Introduced By: Representatives Ucci, Kennedy, Craven, McKiernan, and Place

     Date Introduced: June 22, 2019

     Referred To: House Finance

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Section 46-12.2-2 of the General Laws in Chapter 46-12.2 entitled "Rhode

Island Infrastructure Bank" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     46-12.2-2. Definitions.

     As used in this chapter, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the following

words and phrases shall have the following meanings:

     (1) "Agency" means the Rhode Island clean water finance agency, and, effective

September 1, 2015, and thereafter, shall mean the Rhode Island infrastructure bank;

     (2) "Approved project" means any project or portion thereof that has been issued a

certificate of approval by the department for financial assistance from the agency, and also

includes any project approved for financial assistance from the agency in accordance with state

law, and, furthermore, shall include water pollution abatement projects funded outside of the

water pollution control revolving fund, the Rhode Island water pollution control revolving fund,

or the local interest subsidy trust fund, without the requirement of the issuance of a certificate of

approval; and, furthermore, shall include resiliency related infrastructure projects, and projects

which may, subject to compliance with all state and federal requirements, include state and

federal infrastructure located within the state of Rhode Island;

     (3) "Board" means board of directors of the agency;

     (4) "Bond act" means any general or special law authorizing a local governmental unit to

incur indebtedness for all or any part of the cost of projects coming within the scope of a water

pollution abatement project, or for other projects related to this chapter, including but not limited

to, § 45-12-2;

     (5) "Bonds" means bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness of the agency;

     (6) "Certificate of approval" means the certificate of approval contemplated by § 46-12.2-

8;

     (7) "Chief executive officer" means the mayor in any city, the president of the town

council in any town, and the executive director of any authority or commission, unless some other

officer or body is designated to perform the functions of a chief executive officer under any bond

act or under the provisions of a local charter or other law;

     (8) "Clean Water Act" or "act" means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, act of

June 30, 1948, ch. 758, as added Oct. 18, 1972, Pub. L. No. 92-500, 86 Stat. 896, as added Dec.

27, 1977, Pub. L. No. 95-217, 91 Stat. 1566 (codified at 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq., as amended and

as hereafter amended from time to time);

     (9) "Corporation" means any corporate person, including, but not limited to: corporations,

societies, associations, limited liability companies, partnerships and sole proprietorships;

     (10) "Cost" as applied to any approved project, means any or all costs, whenever

incurred, approved by the agency in accordance with § 46-12.2-8, of planning, designing,

acquiring, constructing, and carrying out and placing the project in operation, including, without

limiting the generality of the foregoing, amounts for the following: planning, design, acquisition,

construction, expansion, improvement, and rehabilitation of facilities; acquisition of real or

personal property; demolitions and relocations; labor, materials, machinery and equipment;

services of architects, engineers, and environmental and financial experts and other consultants;

feasibility studies, plans, specifications, and surveys; interest prior to and during the carrying out

of any project and for a reasonable period thereafter; reserves for debt service or other capital or

current expenses; costs of issuance of local governmental obligations or non-governmental

obligations issued to finance the obligations including, without limitation, fees, charges, and

expenses and costs of the agency relating to the loan evidenced thereby, fees of trustees and other

depositories, legal and auditing fees, premiums and fees for insurance, letters or lines of credit or

other credit facilities securing local governmental obligations or non-governmental obligations

and other costs, fees, and charges in connection with the foregoing; and working capital,

administrative expenses, legal expenses, and other expenses necessary or incidental to the

aforesaid, to the financing of a project and to the issuance therefor of local government

obligations under the provisions of this chapter;

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     (11) "Department" means the department of environmental management;

     (12) "Financial assistance" means any form of financial assistance provided by the

agency to a local governmental unit, person, or corporation in accordance with this chapter for all

or any part of the cost of an approved project, including, without limitation: grants, temporary and

permanent loans, with or without interest, guarantees, insurance, subsidies for the payment of

debt service on loans, lines of credit, and similar forms of financial assistance; provided,

however, notwithstanding the foregoing, for purposes of capitalization grant awards made

available to the agency, pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (P.L.

111-5), or as otherwise required in connection with other capitalization grant awards made

available to the agency, financial assistance shall also include principal forgiveness and negative

interest loans;

     (13) "Fully marketable form" means a local governmental obligation in form satisfactory

to the agency duly executed and accompanied by an opinion of counsel of recognized standing in

the field of municipal law whose opinions have been and are accepted by purchasers of like

obligations to the effect that the obligation is a valid and binding obligation of the local

governmental unit issuing the obligation, enforceable in accordance with its terms;

     (14) "General revenues", when used with reference to a local governmental unit, means

revenues, receipts, assessments, and other moneys of the local governmental unit received from

or on account of the exercise of its powers and all rights to receive the same, including without

limitation:

     (i) Taxes;

     (ii) Wastewater system revenues;

     (iii) Assessments upon or payments received from any other local governmental unit that

is a member or service recipient of the local governmental unit, whether by law, contract, or

otherwise;

     (iv) Proceeds of local governmental obligations and loans and grants received by the

local governmental unit in accordance with this chapter;

     (v) Investment earnings;

     (vi) Reserves for debt service or other capital or current expenses;

     (vii) Receipts from any tax, excise, or fee heretofore or hereafter imposed by any general

or special law all or a part of the receipts of which are payable or distributable to or for the

account of the local governmental unit;

     (viii) Local aid distributions; and

     (ix) Receipts, distributions, reimbursements, and other assistance received by or for the

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account of the local governmental unit from the United States or any agency, department, or

instrumentality thereof;

     (15) "Loan" means a loan by the agency to a local governmental unit, or person, or

corporation for costs of an approved project, including, without limitation, temporary and

permanent loans, and lines of credit;

     (16) "Loan agreement" means any agreement entered into by the agency with a local

governmental unit, person, or corporation pertaining to a loan, other financial assistance, local

governmental obligations, or non-governmental obligations, including, without limitation: a loan

agreement, trust agreement, security agreement, reimbursement agreement, guarantee agreement,

financing lease agreement, appropriation agreement, or similar instrument;

     (17) "Local aid distributions" means receipts, distributions, reimbursements, and other

assistance payable by the state to or for the account of a local governmental unit, except such

receipts, distributions, reimbursements, and other assistance restricted by law to specific

statutorily defined purposes;

     (18) "Local governmental obligations" means bonds, notes, financing lease obligations,

appropriation obligations, and other evidences of indebtedness in fully marketable form issued by

a local governmental unit to evidence a loan or other financial assistance, from the agency in

accordance with this chapter or otherwise as provided herein;

     (19) "Local governmental unit" means any town, city, district, commission, agency,

authority, board, bodies politic and corporate, public corporation, or other political subdivision or

instrumentality of the state or of any political subdivision thereof, including the Narragansett Bay

commission; and, for purposes of dam safety or dam maintenance projects, any person seeking

financial assistance as a joint applicant with any of the above entities;

     (20) "Local interest subsidy trust fund" means the local interest subsidy trust fund

established under § 46-12.2-6;

     (21) "Non-governmental obligations" means bonds, notes, or other evidences of

indebtedness in fully marketable form issued by a person or corporation to evidence a loan, or

other financial assistance, from the agency in accordance with this chapter or otherwise as

provided herein;

     (22) "Person" means any natural person;

     (23) "Priority determination system" means the system by which water pollution

abatement projects are rated on the basis of environmental benefit and other criteria for funding

assistance pursuant to rules and regulations promulgated by the department as they may be

amended from time to time;

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     (24) "Projected energy efficiency savings" means, at the time a loan agreement is entered

into between the agency and a local governmental unit, the savings projected to be derived from

the implementation of energy efficient and renewable-energy upgrades to public buildings, as

determined in accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the Rhode Island

infrastructure bank pursuant to this chapter;

     (25) "Qualified energy conservation bond" or "QECB" means those bonds designated by

26 U.S.C. § 54D;

     (26) "Revenues", when used with reference to the agency, means any receipts, fees,

payments, moneys, revenues, or other payments received or to be received by the agency in the

exercise of its corporate powers under this chapter, including, without limitation: loan

repayments, payments on local governmental obligations, non-governmental obligations, grants,

aid, appropriations, and other assistance from the state, the United States, or any agency,

department, or instrumentality of either or of a political subdivision thereof, bond proceeds,

investment earnings, insurance proceeds, amounts in reserves, and other funds and accounts

established by or pursuant to this chapter or in connection with the issuance of bonds, including,

without limitation, the water pollution control revolving fund, the Rhode Island water pollution

control revolving fund, and the local interest subsidy fund, and any other fees, charges or other

income received or receivable by the agency;

     (27) "Rhode Island water pollution control revolving fund" means the Rhode Island water

pollution control revolving fund established pursuant to § 46-12.2-6;

     (28) "Trust agreement" means a trust agreement, loan agreement, security agreement,

reimbursement agreement, currency or interest rate exchange agreement, or other security

instrument, and a resolution, loan order, or other vote authorizing, securing, or otherwise

providing for the issue of bonds, loans, or local governmental obligations or non-governmental

obligations;

     (29) "Wastewater system revenues" means all rates, rents, fee assessments, charges, and

other receipts derived or to be derived by a local governmental unit from wastewater collection

and treatment facilities and water pollution abatement projects under its ownership or control, or

from the services provided thereby, including, without limitation: proceeds of grants, gifts,

appropriations, and loans, including the proceeds of loans or grants awarded by the agency or the

department in accordance with this chapter, investment earnings, reserves for capital and current

expenses, proceeds of insurance or condemnation, and the sale or other disposition of property;

wastewater system revenues may also include rates, rents, fees, charges, and other receipts

derived by the local governmental unit from any water supply of distribution facilities or other

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revenue producing facilities under its ownership or control; wastewater system revenues shall not

include any ad valorem taxes levied directly by the local governmental unit on any real and

personal property;

     (30) "Water pollution abatement project" or "project" means any project eligible pursuant

to Title VI of the Clean Water Act including, but not limited to, a wastewater treatment or

conveyance project that contributes to removal, curtailment, or mitigation of pollution of the

surface water of the state, and conforms with any applicable comprehensive land use plan which

has been adopted or any dam safety, removal or maintenance project; it also means a project to

enhance the waters of the state, which the agency has been authorized by statute to participate in;

it also means any other project to which the agency has been authorized to provide financial

assistance;

     (31) "Water pollution control revolving fund" means the water pollution control

revolving fund contemplated by title VI of the Water Quality Act and established under § 46-

12.2-6;

     (32) "Water Quality Act" means the Water Quality Act of 1987, Pub. L. No. 100-4, 101

Stat. 7, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq., as amended from time to time.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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LC002872

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO WATERS AND NAVIGATION - RHODE ISLAND INFRASTRUCTURE

BANK

***

     This act would expand the definition of “approved project” to include resiliency related

infrastructure projects and projects which may include state and federal infrastructures within the

state of Rhode Island.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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