Chapter 308
2011 -- H 5583
Enacted 07/12/11
A N A C T
RELATING TO
WATERS AND NAVIGATION -
Introduced By: Representatives Walsh, Guthrie, Messier, and Ferri
Date Introduced: March 03, 2011
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 Clean Water Finance
Agency" 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
(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;
(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, including but not limited to
section 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 section
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. section 1251 et seq., as
amended and as hereafter amended from time to time);
(9) "Cost" as
applied to any approved project, means any or all costs, whenever incurred,
approved by the agency in accordance with section eight of
this chapter, 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
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 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;
(10)
"Department" means the department of environmental management;
(11) "Financial
assistance" means any form of financial assistance other than grants
provided by the agency to a local governmental unit in
accordance with this chapter for all or any
part of the cost of an approved project, including,
without limitation, 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;
(12) "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;
(13) "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
which 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
account of the local governmental unit from the
instrumentality thereof;
(14) "Loan"
means a loan by the agency to a local governmental unit for costs of an
approved project, including, without limitation, temporary and
permanent loans, and lines of
credit;
(15) "Loan
agreement" means any agreement entered into by the agency with a local
governmental unit pertaining to a loan, other financial
assistance, or local governmental
obligations including, without limitation, a loan agreement,
trust agreement, security agreement,
reimbursement agreement, guarantee agreement, or similar
instrument;
(16) "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;
(17) "Local
governmental obligations" means bonds, notes, and other evidences of
indebtedness in fully marketable form issued by a local
governmental unit to evidence a loan
from the agency in accordance with this chapter or
otherwise as provided herein;
(18) "Local
governmental unit" means any town, city, district, commission, agency,
authority, board, or other political subdivision or
instrumentality of the state or of any political
subdivision thereof responsible for the ownership or operation of
a water pollution abatement
project, including the
purposes of dam safety or dam maintenance projects, any person
seeking financial assistance as a
joint applicant with any of the above entities;
(19) "Local
interest subsidy trust fund" means the local interest subsidy trust fund
established under section 46-12.2-6;
(20) "Person"
means any natural or corporate person, including bodies politic and
corporate, public departments, offices, agencies, authorities,
and political subdivisions of the
state, corporations, societies, associations, and
partnerships, and subordinate instrumentalities of
any one or more political subdivisions of the state;
(21) "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;
(22) "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, grants,
aid, appropriations, and other
assistance from the state, the
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
local interest subsidy fund, and any other fees, charges or
other income received or receivable by
the agency;
(23) "
water pollution control revolving fund established pursuant
to section 46-12.2-6;
(24) "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;
(25) "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
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;
(26) "Water
pollution abatement project" or "project" means any 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 dam
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;
(27) "Water
pollution control revolving fund" means the water pollution control
revolving fund contemplated by title VI of the Water Quality
Act and established under section
46-12.2-6;
(28) "Water
Quality Act" means the Water Quality Act of 1987, Pub. L. No. 100-4, 101
Stat. 7, 33 U.S.C. section 1251 et
seq., as amended from time to time.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC01730
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