SECTION 1. Section 46-15.1-5 of the General Laws in Chapter 46-15.1 entitled "Water Supply Facilities" is hereby amended to read as follows:

46-15.1-5. Powers. -- The board shall carry out its functions and shall have the following powers:

(1) To adopt a seal and to alter the seal from time to time;

(2) To sue and be sued;

(3) To purchase, hold, and dispose of real and personal property, or interests therein, and to lease the property as lessee or lessor;

(4) To make or cause to be made such surveys and borings as it may deem necessary;

(5) To engage engineering, legal, accounting, and other professional services;

(6) To make contracts;

(7) To employ personnel and fix their rates of compensation;

(8) To borrow money and issue its bonds and notes as hereinafter provided;

(9) To apply and contract for and to expend assistance from the United States or other sources, whether in the form of a grant or loan or otherwise;

(10) To adopt and amend bylaws for the regulation of its affairs and the conduct of its business;

(11) To invest or deposit funds in demand deposits, savings deposits, and time deposits in any bank or trust company which is a member of the federal deposit insurance corporation or in any obligations issued or guaranteed by the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof, or as provided in section 35-10-11;

(12) To establish, operate, and maintain or lease to others, or contract with others for the use of, such water supply facilities as may be reasonably required for the fulfillment of its purposes;

(13) To purchase and sell water;

(14) To exercise such other powers as may be necessary or incidental to the exercise of the foregoing powers or to the accomplishment of the purposes of the board;

(15) To acquire, within the limitation of funds therefor, the sites, appurtenant marginal lands, dams, waters, water rights, rights of way, easements, and other property in interests in property for reservoirs, groundwater wells, well sites, and for such pipe lines, aqueducts, pumping stations, filtration plants, and auxiliary structures as may be necessary or desirable for the treatment and distribution of water from those reservoirs, groundwater wells, and well sites. Lands acquired under the provisions of this section shall be acquired with the approval of the governor by purchase, gift, devise, or otherwise on such terms and conditions as the board shall determine, or by the exercise of eminent domain, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 6 of title 37, as amended, insofar as those provisions are consistent with the provisions hereof;

(16) To construct or purchase water reservoirs, wells and well sites, processing facilities, transmission or distribution systems, and other facilities, including existing facilities of municipal water agencies or departments, special water districts, or private water companies, necessary to accomplish the purposes of this chapter and to implement its plans and program;

(17) To acquire the assets, assume the liabilities, or to effect the merger into itself of any corporation or other organization, including public or private water supply systems incorporated or organized under the laws of this state, which corporation or organization has as its principal business the establishment of water supply facilities or provision of related services, all upon such terms and for such consideration as the board shall deem to be appropriate;

(18) To lease, sell, or otherwise convey any reservoir sites or other water supply or distribution facilities acquired, constructed, or purchased by the board to any municipal water agency or department or special water district or private water company, upon such terms as the board shall deem appropriate;

(19) To provide for cooperative development, conservation, and use of water resources by the state, municipal agencies or departments, special water districts or privately owned water systems, the board may:

(i) Authorize publicly or privately owned water supply agencies to build structures or install equipment on land owned or leased by the board.

(ii) Enter into contracts with publicly or privately owned water supply agencies for operation of any facilities owned or leased by the board or operate any such facility by itself.

(20) To enter into contracts to supply raw or processed water to publicly or privately owned water supply agencies, which shall be approved as to substance by the director of administration and as to form by the attorney general;

(21) To review all plans and proposals for construction or installation of facilities for water supply in accordance with the applicable sections of chapter 15 of this title; and

(22) To make loans to publicly owned water supply agencies for acquisition, of land, construction, and renovation of water supply facilities or purchase or installation of equipment or pipes, from funds which may be appropriated for this purpose by the general assembly, from bonds issued for this purpose, or from other funds which may become available to the board for this purpose. No loans shall be made for purposes of installing, improving, or extending local distribution systems unless the board requires such a system to contain a greater capacity than immediately necessary in order to provide water for other municipalities at a later date in accordance with the applicable sections of chapter 15 of this title;

(23) To borrow money temporarily from the water development fund, for the purposes of this chapter, and to implement its plans and programs relating to reservoir development, exclusive of the acquisition of sites for the development of surface reservoirs, in anticipation of revenue or federal aid;

(24) To enter into contracts and/or agreements with such departments, divisions, agencies, or boards of the state as are directed by the governor to regulate, manage, or perform related functions on any lands or waters acquired under the provisions of the Big River -- Wood River Reservoir Site Acquisition Act (P.L. of 1964, chapter 133);

(25) To compensate the departments, divisions, agencies, or boards from the water development fund in an amount equal to the cost of providing the functions or services as are directed to be performed by the governor. The compensation shall be mandatory and shall be provided according to procedures established by the department of administration.

The board as a body politic and corporate and public instrumentality created pursuant to this chapter is subject to section 46-15.1-5(1) through (25). The board as the state agency pursuant to chapter 15 of this title is subject to section 46-15.1-5(15) through (25).

SECTION 2. Section 35-18-2 of the General Laws in Chapter 35-18 entitled "Public Corporation Debt Management" is hereby amended to read as follows:

35-18-2. Definitions. -- The words defined in this section shall have the meanings set forth below whenever they appear in this chapter, unless the context in which they are used clearly requires a different meaning:

(1) "Bond" and "obligation" mean an agreement by any person to repay borrowed money.

(2) "Economic development project" means any project which the Rhode Island industrial facilities corporation is authorized to undertake, including, without limitation, a project related to financing the acquisition of any land and any building or other improvement which shall be suitable for manufacturing, warehousing, or other industrial or commercial purposes, including research, production, processing, agricultural, and marine commerce; provided, however, that the project may include, in addition, the construction or improvement of access roads and utilities, but only access roads and utilities, and only those which are necessary for the operation of that project.

(3) "Essential public facilities" means roads, bridges, airports, prisons, reservoirs, waste and wastewater treatment facilities, educational facilities, and any other facilities used by any state agency, department, board, or commission, including the board of governors for higher education, to provide services to the public pursuant to the requirements of state or federal law, and all fixtures for any of those facilities and facilities financed or refinanced by bonds or other obligations of the water resources board corporate. It does not include any personal property.

(4) "Financing lease" means an agreement in the form of a lease between the state and any person which provides that upon payment by the state as lessee of aggregate rent equal to no less than all of the principal and interest on bonds or other obligations issued by the lessor to finance the acquisition, construction, or improvement of all or any part of an essential public facility, the state shall have the right to possess, use and enjoy that facility pursuant to the lease for a specified period and the option to purchase that facility for a nominal sum at the end of the period.

(5) "Governor" means the governor of the state.

(6) "Guarantee" and "guarantee lease" mean an agreement on the part of the state to guarantee any liability of a public corporation except a liability of the Rhode Island industrial recreational building authority.

(7) "Moral obligation bonds" mean revenue bonds issued under section 42-64-18 (as that section was in effect on June 1, 1994) or any substantially similar provision in the general laws.

(8) "Person" means an individual, partnership, corporation, public corporation, trust, or association.

(9) "Public corporation" means any body corporate and politic created or to be created pursuant to statute, including, without limitation, the Rhode Island industrial recreational building authority, the Rhode Island economic development corporation and any subsidiaries thereof, the Rhode Island industrial facilities corporation, the Rhode Island refunding bond authority, the Rhode Island health and educational building authority, the board of governors for higher education, the Rhode Island housing and mortgage finance corporation, the Rhode Island resource recovery corporation, the Rhode Island public transit authority, the Rhode Island student loan authority, the water resources board corporate, (except as provided below), the Rhode Island health and educational building corporation, the Rhode Island depositors economic protection corporation, the Rhode Island convention center authority, the Rhode Island turnpike and bridge authority, their successors and assigns. Cities, towns, and any corporation created by a city or town pursuant to statute, and fire and water districts, are not public corporations under this chapter. The water resources board corporate is not a public corporation under this chapter to the extent it is financing or refinancing bonds or other obligations on behalf of a city, town, city or town instrumentalities or agencies, or fire or water districts.

(10) "State" means the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and any department, office, board, commission, or agency of the state.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.