CHAPTER 253
AUTHORIZING BOND ISSUE FOR BEACH EROSION
AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 17, DELAWARE CODE, ENTITLED "HIGHWAYS", TO AUTHORIZE THE STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT TO PERFORM WORK TO PREVENT AND REPAIR DAMAGE FROM BEACH EROSION, TO CONFER UPON IT JURISDICTION OVER IMPROVEMENTS AND STRUCTURES, TO AUTHORIZE THE ISSUANCE OF BONDS TO FINANCE THE COST OF CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE OF NECESSARY FACILITIES, AND TO PROVIDE PENALTIES FOR THE UNAUTHORIZED ALTERATION THEREOF.
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. Title 17, Delaware Code, is amended by adding new Sections 142 and 143 thereof, as follows:
§ 142. Direction to perform work to prevent and repair damage from beach erosion; jurisdiction over improvements and structures; authorization for the issuance of bonds to finance the cost thereof
(a) The State Highway Department shall provide, erect, construct, build, reconstruct and maintain such groins, jetties, banks, dikes, dunes, bulkheads, seawalls, breakwaters, and other facilities as may be determined by said department, and make any other repairs or take any other measures along or upon any beach or shoreline area in this State as in the judgment of said Department may be necessary to protect the same from erosion by water or the elements or to repair damage that may have been caused by water or the elements. All such groins, jetties, banks, dikes, dunes, bulkheads, seawalls, breakwaters, other facilities and other improvements or structures authorized in the previous sentence shall be under the absolute jurisdiction, custody, care, management and control of said Department.
(b) (1) The Governor, Secretary of State and State Treasurer of the State of Delaware, herein sometimes referred to as the Issuing Officers, are hereby authorized, fully empowered and directed to borrow upon the faith and credit of the State of Delaware a sum of money not in excess of $1,000,000.00 to be used by the State Highway Department during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1958 for the purposes set forth in sub-section (a) above of this section and for the purpose of maintaining and repairing said groins, jetties, banks, dikes, dunes, bulkheads, seawalls, breakwaters, other facilities and other improvements or structures authorized in sub-section (a) of this section; 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 $1,000,000.00 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. 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 purpose hereinbefore described by any other law now in effect.
(b) (2) The said bonds 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 hereby authorized to be issued and the coupons thereto attached, and the said bonds shall be exempt from taxation by the State or any political subdivisions thereof for any purpose.
(b) (3) The said bonds shall recite that they are issued for the purpose set forth in Section 1 (a) 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, 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 and the legality and validity of such bonds and of the principal debt and interest represented thereby, and the legality and validity of such bonds 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 bond or bonds.
(b) (4) 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.
Such bonds may provide for such privileges of registration, conversion, reconversion, redemption, exchange and 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 the 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 facsimile 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 of 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 times of delivery of the said bonds.
(b) (5) For the purpose of designation and identification, any bond issued under the authority of this Act shall be known and styled "State Highway Department Beach Erosion Facilities Bond of 1957".
(b) (6) 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 the 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.
(b) (7) 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 not be 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.
(b) (8) Any money received from the sale of said bonds, or any series thereof, issued under the provisions of this Act, shall be deposited by the State Treasurer in the Farmers' Bank of the State of Delaware, at Dover, and shall be used exclusively for the purposes set forth in this Act and for the purpose of paying the costs and expenses incident to the issuance of said bonds.
In addition to any monies appropriated by any other XR, there is hereby appropriated to the State Highway Department of the State of Delaware the sum of "81,000,000.00" or so much thereof as shall be received from the sale of the bonds authorized hereby, which shall be used for the purposes set forth herein, and the State Treasurer is hereby authorized and directed to disburse the said monies upon warrants signed by the Chairman and the Secretary or the Chief Engineer of the State Highway Department, stating the use of the monies for which such warrant calls, which use shall be for the purposes set forth in this Act. 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 exclusively for the purposes set forth in this Act.
(b) (9) The General Assembly shall appropriate such funds as may be necessary for the expenses incident to the issuance of the bonds herein authorized, and such further sum as may be necessary to pay any interest which becomes due on such bonds 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 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.
(b) (10) 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 maturies 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.
§ 143. Penalties for unauthorized alteration as removal of improvements or structures; jurisdiction
(a) Whoever, without authority from the State Highway Department, alters, moves, or carries away any of the groins, jetties, banks, dikes, dunes, bulkheads, seawalls, breakwaters, other facilities, or any of the other improvements or structures authorized under the provisions of Section 142 of this title shall be fined not less than $10.00 nor more than $500.00, or imprisoned for not less than five days nor more than ninety days.
(b) The justices of the peace shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine violations of this section.
Approved July 22, 1957.