CHAPTER 347
AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR DISASTER RECOVERY AND REHABILITATION AND AUTHORIZING THE STATE OF DELAWARE TO BORROW MONEY AND ISSUE BONDS AND NOTES THEREFOR.
WHEREAS, the funds appropriated to the Governor's Disaster Recovery and Rehabilitation Fund are insufficient to undertake many of the recovery and rehabilitation projects needed; AND
WHEREAS, the State of Delaware having already been declared a disaster area and eligible to receive Federal funds for disaster recovery and rehabilitation; AND
WHEREAS, such funds are not yet available but can be expected to be available in the near future; AND
WHEREAS, it is imperative to the economy of the State and is necessary for the protection of property from further damage, to commence to undertake disaster recovery and rehabilitation immediately without waiting for Federal funds to become available, NOW THEREFORE,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware (three-fourths of all Members elected to each House concurring therein):
Section 1. Within the appropriation under Section 2 of the Act, the Governor and Secretary of State are hereby authorized and empowered to expend such sums as may be necessary to undertake disaster recovery and rehabilitation projects, which are necessary as a result of the coastal storm of March 6 and 7, 1962, and which can reasonably be calculated to be eligible for Federal participation or reimbursement, including but not limited to the construction, reconstruction, building or rebuilding of roads, streets, sewers, water lines, boardwalks, sea walls, retaining walls, jetty's, groins, sand dunes, sidewalks, curbs, or facilities of a public nature. Projects may be undertaken directly by the State, or sums may be appropriated to an instrumentality of the State for a specific project.
Section 2. There is hereby appropriated to the Governor of the State of Delaware the sum of $1,500,000, to become part of the Governor's Disaster Recovery and Rehabilitation Fund established by Chapter 342, Volume 53, Laws of Delaware, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be expended for the purposes set forth in Section 1 of this Act. The moneys so appropriated shall be paid by the State Treasurer out of the proceeds of the issue and sale of the bonds and notes hereinafter authorized by this Act. Said moneys shall be made available during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1962. Any sums of money which remain unexpended at the end of any fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund of the State of Delaware but shall remain available until the purposes of this Act are fulfilled.
Section 3. In the event that the United States Federal Government reimburses the State or any instrumentality of the State for any of the funds appropriated herein, or for any of the projects undertaken pursuant to this Act, then the funds so reimbursed shall become a part of the Governor's Disaster Recovery and Rehabilitation Fund as established by Chapter 342, Volume 53, Laws of Delaware. Upon completion of all the recovery and rehabilitation projects, as approved pursuant to Chapter 342, Volume 53, Laws of Delaware, or upon certification by the Governor that a portion or all of such moneys in such fund are no longer required for disaster recovery and rehabilitation, the sums remaining in said fund shall be expended to retire any notes issued pursuant to the Act and any sums then remaining shall be expended to retire any bonds issued pursuant to this Act.
Section 4. The Governor, the State Treasurer and the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware, hereinafter sometimes referred to as the Issuing Officers, are hereby authorized, empowered and directed to borrow upon the faith and credit of the State of Delaware a sum of money not in excess of $1,500,000, which shall be used for the purposes set forth in this Act.
The Issuing Officers are hereby authorized and fully empowered to sell, execute and deliver bonds in conformity with the provisions of this Act to an amount not to exceed the sum of $1,500,000. The bonds shall be issued in such series and amounts as the Issuing Officers shall determine.
Section 5. In anticipation of the issuance of bonds, the Issuing Officers may issue and sell notes of the State of Delaware at either public or private sale for not less than par and accrued interest. Said notes shall bear interest at a rate not exceeding 4 per cent per annum. They may be renewed from time to time by the issuance and sale of new notes, but all such notes shall mature and be paid not later than June 30, 1964. The total amount of said notes outstanding at any one time, together with the total amount of said bonds theretofore issued, shall not exceed $1,500,000.
Said notes may be redeemed at par and accrued interest prior to their maturity, if the right of the State to do so shall have been reserved by an express provision in the notes. The principal of said notes shall be paid out of the proceeds of the sale of said bonds or notes.
Section 6. The bonds and notes issued in accordance with the provisions of this Act shall be direct general obligations of the State, and the public faith and credit of the State of Delaware are hereby expressly pledged for the full and complete payment of the debt, principal and interest by this Act authorized, of the bonds and notes hereby authorized to be issued and the coupons thereto attached, and the said bonds and notes shall be exempt from taxation by the State or any political subdivisions thereof for any purpose.
Section 7. The said bonds and notes shall recite that they are issued for the purposes set forth in this Act, that they are issued in pursuance of this Act and Constitution of this State, and upon the sale and delivery of any such bond or note, such recitals shall be conclusive upon the State of Delaware and all and every other person whatsoever of the right, power and authority for the issuance of said bonds or notes and the legality and validity of such bonds or notes and of the principal debt and interest represented thereby, and the legality and validity of such bonds or notes thereafter shall never be questioned in any court of law or equity by the State of Delaware or any person or persons for its use or in its behalf, and this provision shall be and become part of the contract and obligation represented by any such bonds or notes.
Section 8. The bonds issued under the authority of this Act shall be in denominations of $1,000, or multiple thereof, as shall be decided by the Issuing Officers, or the majority of them, with coupons thereto attached for each half year's interest thereon. The said bonds shall be numbered consecutively, and shall bear such dates as the Issuing Officers shall fix and shall bear interest at such rate as shall be determined by the bid accepted by the Issuing Officers, which interest shall be payable semi-annually in each year that such bonds remain unpaid, at the Farmers Bank of the State of Delaware, at Dover, upon presentation of a coupon representing such semi-annual interest.
Said bonds shall be in such form and may contain such other and further recital and be subject to such terms and conditions, with such privileges as to registration, conversion, reconversion, redemption and exchange, and may contain such other provisions as may be determined by said Issuing Officers.
The said bonds shall mature as the Issuing Officers may determine; provided, however, that the principal amount of said bonds, or any series thereof shall be made to mature fully within 20 years from the date of issue thereof.
The said bonds shall be executed on behalf of the State of Delaware by the Governor, the Secretary of State and the State Treasurer and shall have the impression of the Great Seal of the State thereon or shall have a facsimile of the Great Seal of the State thereon. The signatures of the Governor and the Secretary of State may be engraved or printed on such bonds, but the signature of the State Treasurer shall be in his own Proper handwriting.
Attached interest coupons shall bear the signature of the State Treasurer which may be engraved, printed or written on such coupons. The coupons attached to each bond shall bear the same number as the bond to which they are attached.
The said bonds, with the coupons attached, may be issued notwithstanding that any of the officers executing them in the manner herein provided shall have ceased to hold office at the time of such issue or at the time of the delivery of said bonds.
Section 9. For the purpose of designation and identification, any bond issued under the authority of this Act shall be known and styled "Disaster Recovery and Rehabilitation Bond of 1962."
Section 10. The said bonds, as well as the interest coupons thereto attached, shall be issued in such form or forms as the Issuing Officers may adopt.
It shall be the duty of the State Treasurer to provide a record of the proper size and form to be retained in his office, in which he shall keep a record of all bonds which shall be paid and redeemed according to the number thereof, and in addition thereto he shall cause any such bond to be cancelled by making lines with red ink through the signatures of the Governor, Secretary of State and State Treasurer or his Deputy, and also by writing across the fact thereof in red ink the following:
This bond paid and redeemed this ________ day of ________A. D. 19__.
______________________
State Treasurer
As the said coupons are paid, it shall be the duty of the State Treasurer to mark the same in red ink across the face "Paid." All bonds paid and redeemed, as well as all coupons paid and cancelled as aforesaid shall be safely kept by the State Treasurer so long as any bond authorized by this Act is unpaid and not redeemed.
Section 11. Whenever the bonds authorized by this Act may be issued in conformity with the provisions of this Act, the Issuing Officers are hereby directed to advertise that they will receive bids at such place or places that may be named in said advertisement for such bonds under such regulations as may be made in the discretion of the Issuing Officers. Sufficient notice of sale of said bonds shall be deemed to have been given if said notice shall have been published at least once ten or more days before the date of sale in at least one newspaper published in the State of Delaware and in a financial journal published in the City of New York, and no other publication of such notice of sale shall be necessary; and said bonds may be sold upon such terms and conditions as may be set forth in such notice of sale, provided that the purchase price shall be not less than par and accrued interest. If any of said bonds so offered for sale are not bid for, or if any insufficient price be bid for them, they may be subsequently disposed of under the direction of the Issuing Officers at private sale upon the best terms they can obtain for the same, provided that they shall not be sold at private sale for less than par and accrued interest.
Section 12. All moneys received from the sale of said bonds or notes shall be deposited by the State Treasurer in the Farmers Bank of the State of Delaware at Dover, and shall be used exclusively in accordance with the provisions of this Act and for the purpose of paying the principal of notes issued under this Act.
Section 13. There is appropriated from the General Fund such sums as may be necessary for the expenses incident to the issuance of the bonds and notes herein authorized, and such further sums as may be necessary to pay any interest which may become due on such bonds and notes during the fiscal years ending June 30, 1962, or June 30, 1963, and such further sums as may be necessary for the repayment of the principal of any of the said bonds which become due during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1963. Vouchers for the payment of the expenses incident to the issuance of bonds and notes and for interest and repayment of said notes shall be signed by the Secretary of State by and with the approval of the Issuing Officers. Any moneys received from the premium and accrued interest on the sale of said bonds shall be deposited to the credit of the General Fund.
Section 14. The Budget Appropriation Bill which shall be enacted and approved by the General Assembly for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1962, and for each subsequent fiscal year or biennium shall contain under the Debt Service Item provisions for the payment of interest and principal maturities of said bonds issued under the authority of this Act, and such of the revenues of the State of Delaware as are not prohibited by constitutional provision or committed by preceding statutes for other purposes are hereby pledged for the redemption and cancellation of said bonds and payment of interest thereon.
Approved March 30, 1962.