CHAPTER 9
AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE STATE OF DELAWARE TO BORROW A CERTAIN SUM OF MONEY TO PROVIDE FOR HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENTS AND FOR BUILDINGS UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT BY ACQUIRING LANDS AND RIGHTSOF-WAYS, CONSTRUCTING AND RECONSTRUCTING HIGHWAYS, BRIDGES, BY PROVIDING BUILDINGS AND IMPROVEMENTS INCIDENTAL THERETO AND TO ISSUE BONDS AND NOTES THEREFOR AND APPROPRIATING SAID FUNDS.
WHEREAS, through the enactment of Federal legislation the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1958 was approved, and
WHEREAS, by such act additional Federal funds were made available to the several States for highway improvement provided such States furnish matching funds therefor, and
WHEREAS, the availability of the aforementioned Federal funds could not be anticipated at the time that the requirements for highway improvements for the current biennium were established by the State Highway Department with the result that funds provided for highway purposes during the 119th Session of the General Assembly will not suffice to match the additional Federal funds tentatively allocated to the State of Delaware, and
WHEREAS, the benefits of the additional Federal funds cannot be realized unless matching funds are made available by the State of Delaware,
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. The Governor, Secretary of State, and State Treasurer of the State of Delaware, herein sometimes referred to as the ISSUING OFFICERS, shall borrow upon the faith and credit of the State of Delaware a sum of money not in excess of Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($2,500,000), which shall be used for the purpose of construction and reconstruction of roads, highways, and bridges, and to provide buildings required by any division of the State Highway Department and for the acquisition of land, rights-of-way, and the surveying, grading, and landscaping thereof, and for the costs of labor, material, equipment, supplies and for dams, locks, sewers, water mains, and underpasses incidental and necessary to the foregoing; and the ISSUING OFFICERS shall sell, execute and deliver bonds in conformity with the provisions of this Act to an amount not to exceed the said sum of Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($2,500,000). The bonds may be issued all at one time or from time to time, in such series and amounts as the ISSUING OFFICERS shall determine to be required, subject to the provisions contained in this Act, and with the proviso that such bonds shall be sold, executed and delivered prior to 31 December 1959. Said sum of money may be borrowed and said bonds. may be issued in addition to any sums authorized to be borrowed or bonds authorized to be issued for the purposes hereinbefore described by any other law now in effect.
Section 2. 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. 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 December 31, 1959. The total amount of said notes outstanding at any one time, together with the total amount of said bonds theretofore issued, shall not exceed Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($2,500,000).
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 3. 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 4. The said bonds and notes shall recite that they are issued for the purposes set forth in Section 1 of this Act, that they are issued in pursuance of this Act and the 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 the provision shall be and become part of the contract and obligation represented by any such bonds or notes.
Section 5. The bonds issued under the authority of this Act shall be in denominations of One Thousand Dollars ($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 twenty (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. 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 the said bonds.
Section 6. For the purpose of designation and identification, any bond issued under the authority of this Act shall be known and styled "SUPPLEMENTARY STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT IMPROVEMENT BOND OF 1959."
Section 7. 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, and also by writing across the face 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 8. 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 9. 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.
In addition to any moneys appropriated by any other Act there is appropriated to the State Highway Department the sum of Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($2,500,000) or so much thereof as shall be received from the sale of the bonds and notes authorized hereby, which shall be used for the purposes set forth herein. Any of said funds remaining unexpended at the end of any fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund but shall remain in said account to be used for the purposes set forth in this Act.
Section 10. 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 become due on such bonds and notes during the biennium ending June 30, 1959, 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 biennium ending June 30, 1959. 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 11. The Budget Appropriation Bill which shall be enacted and approved by the General Assembly at the 120th Session and each and every subsequent biennial Session thereof, 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.
Section 12. This is an emergency enactment to secure matching funds from the Federal Government.
Approved March 31, 1959.