Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 5531.10 – Issuing obligations for state infrastructure projects

(A) As used in this chapter:
1. (1) "Bond proceedings" means the resolution, order, trust agreement, indenture, lease, lease-purchase agreements, and other agreements, amendments and supplements to the foregoing, or any one or more or combination thereof, authorizing or providing for the terms and conditions applicable to, or providing for the security or liquidity of, obligations issued pursuant to this section, and the provisions contained in such obligations.
2. (2) "Bond service charges" means principal, including mandatory sinking fund requirements for retirement of obligations, and interest, and redemption premium, if any, required to be paid by the state on obligations.
3. (3) "Bond service fund" means the applicable fund and accounts therein created for and pledged to the payment of bond service charges, which may be, or may be part of, the state infrastructure bank revenue bond service fund created by division (R) of this section including all moneys and investments, and earnings from investments, credited and to be credited thereto.
4. (4) "Issuing authority" means the treasurer of state, or the officer who by law performs the functions of the treasurer of state.
5. (5) "Obligations" means bonds, notes, or other evidence of obligation including interest coupons pertaining thereto, issued pursuant to this section.
6. (6) "Pledged receipts" means moneys accruing to the state from the lease, lease-purchase, sale, or other disposition, or use, of qualified projects, and from the repayment, including interest, of loans made from proceeds received from the sale of obligations; accrued interest received from the sale of obligations; income from the investment of the special funds; any gifts, grants, donations, and pledges, and receipts therefrom, available for the payment of bond service charges; and any amounts in the state infrastructure bank pledged to the payment of such charges. If the amounts in the state infrastructure bank are insufficient for the payment of such charges, "pledged receipts" also means moneys that are apportioned by the United States secretary of transportation under United States Code, Title XXIII, as amended, or any successor legislation, or under any other federal law relating to aid for highways, and that are to be received as a grant by the state, to the extent the state is not prohibited by state or federal law from using such moneys and the moneys are pledged to the payment of such bond service charges.
7. (7) "Special funds" or "funds" means, except where the context does not permit, the bond service fund, and any other funds, including reserve funds, created under the bond proceedings, and the state infrastructure bank revenue bond service fund created by division (R) of this section to the extent provided in the bond proceedings, including all moneys and investments, and earnings from investment, credited and to be credited thereto.
8. (8) "State infrastructure project" means any public transportation project undertaken by the state, including, but not limited to, all components of any such project, as described in division (D) of section 5531.09 of the Revised Code.
9. (9) "District obligations" means bonds, notes, or other evidence of obligation including interest coupons pertaining thereto, issued to finance a qualified project by a transportation improvement district created pursuant to section 5540.02 of the Revised Code, of which the principal, including mandatory sinking fund requirements for retirement of such obligations, and interest and redemption premium, if any, are payable by the department of transportation.
(B) The issuing authority, after giving written notice to the director of budget and management and upon the certification by the director of transportation to the issuing authority of the amount of moneys or additional moneys needed either for state infrastructure projects or to provide financial assistance for any of the purposes for which the state infrastructure bank may be used under section 5531.09 of the Revised Code, or needed for capitalized interest, funding reserves, and paying costs and expenses incurred in connection with the issuance, carrying, securing, paying, redeeming, or retirement of the obligations or any obligations refunded thereby, including payment of costs and expenses relating to letters of credit, lines of credit, insurance, put agreements, standby purchase agreements, indexing, marketing, remarketing and administrative arrangements, interest swap or hedging agreements, and any other credit enhancement, liquidity, remarketing, renewal, or refunding arrangements, all of which are authorized by this section, shall issue obligations of the state under this section in the required amount. The proceeds of such obligations, except for the portion to be deposited in special funds, including reserve funds, as may be provided in the bond proceedings, shall as provided in the bond proceedings be credited to the infrastructure bank obligations fund of the state infrastructure bank created by section 5531.09 of the Revised Code and disbursed as provided in the bond proceedings for such obligations. The issuing authority may appoint trustees, paying agents, transfer agents, and authenticating agents, and may retain the services of financial advisors, accounting experts, and attorneys, and retain or contract for the services of marketing, remarketing, indexing, and administrative agents, other consultants, and independent contractors, including printing services, as are necessary in the issuing authority's judgment to carry out this section. The costs of such services are payable from funds of the state infrastructure bank or as otherwise provided in the bond proceedings.
(C) The holders or owners of such obligations shall have no right to have moneys raised by taxation by the state of Ohio obligated or pledged, and moneys so raised shall not be obligated or pledged, for the payment of bond service charges. The right of such holders and owners to the payment of bond service charges is limited to all or that portion of the pledged receipts and those special funds pledged thereto pursuant to the bond proceedings for such obligations in accordance with this section, and each such obligation shall bear on its face a statement to that effect. Moneys received as repayment of loans made by the state infrastructure bank pursuant to section 5531.09 of the Revised Code shall not be considered moneys raised by taxation by the state of Ohio regardless of the source of the moneys.
(D) Obligations shall be authorized by order of the issuing authority and the bond proceedings shall provide for the purpose thereof and the principal amount or amounts, and shall provide for or authorize the manner or agency for determining the principal maturity or maturities, not exceeding twenty-five years from the date of issuance or, with respect to obligations issued to finance a transportation facility pursuant to a public-private agreement, not exceeding forty-five years from the date of issuance, the interest rate or rates or the maximum interest rate, the date of the obligations and the dates of payment of interest thereon, their denomination, and the establishment within or without the state of a place or places of payment of bond service charges. Sections 9.98 to 9.983 of the Revised Code are applicable to obligations issued under this section. The purpose of such obligations may be stated in the bond proceedings in terms describing the general purpose or purposes to be served. The bond proceedings also shall provide, subject to the provisions of any other applicable bond proceedings, for the pledge of all, or such part as the issuing authority may determine, of the pledged receipts and the applicable special fund or funds to the payment of bond service charges, which pledges may be made either prior or subordinate to other expenses, claims, or payments, and may be made to secure the obligations on a parity with obligations theretofore or thereafter issued, if and to the extent provided in the bond proceedings. The pledged receipts and special funds so pledged and thereafter received by the state immediately are subject to the lien of such pledge without any physical delivery thereof or further act, and the lien of any such pledges is valid and binding against all parties having claims of any kind against the state or any governmental agency of the state, irrespective of whether such parties have notice thereof, and shall create a perfected security interest for all purposes of Chapter 1309. of the Revised Code, without the necessity for separation or delivery of funds or for the filing or recording of the bond proceedings by which such pledge is created or any certificate, statement, or other document with respect thereto; and the pledge of such pledged receipts and special funds is effective and the money therefrom and thereof may be applied to the purposes for which pledged without necessity for any act of appropriation. Every pledge, and every covenant and agreement made with respect thereto, made in the bond proceedings may therein be extended to the benefit of the owners and holders of obligations authorized by this section, and to any trustee therefor, for the further security of the payment of the bond service charges. For purposes of this division, "transportation facility" and "public-private agreement" have the same meanings as in section 5501.70 of the Revised Code.
(E) The bond proceedings may contain additional provisions as to:
1. (1) The redemption of obligations prior to maturity at the option of the issuing authority at such price or prices and under such terms and conditions as are provided in the bond proceedings;
2. (2) Other terms of the obligations;
3. (3) Limitations on the issuance of additional obligations;
4. (4) The terms of any trust agreement or indenture securing the obligations or under which the same may be issued;
5. (5) The deposit, investment, and application of special funds, and the safeguarding of moneys on hand or on deposit, without regard to Chapter 131. or 135. of the Revised Code, but subject to any special provisions of this section with respect to particular funds or moneys, provided that any bank or trust company which acts as depository of any moneys in the special funds may furnish such indemnifying bonds or may pledge such securities as required by the issuing authority;
6. (6) Any or every provision of the bond proceedings being binding upon such officer, board, commission, authority, agency, department, or other person or body as may from time to time have the authority under law to take such actions as may be necessary to perform all or any part of the duty required by such provision;
7. (7) Any provision that may be made in a trust agreement or indenture;
8. (8) Any other or additional agreements with the holders of the obligations, or the trustee therefor, relating to the obligations or the security therefor, including the assignment of mortgages or other security relating to financial assistance for qualified projects under section 5531.09 of the Revised Code.
(F) The obligations may have the great seal of the state or a facsimile thereof affixed thereto or printed thereon. The obligations and any coupons pertaining to obligations shall be signed or bear the facsimile signature of the issuing authority. Any obligations or coupons may be executed by the person who, on the date of execution, is the proper issuing authority although on the date of such bonds or coupons such person was not the issuing authority. In case the issuing authority whose signature or a facsimile of whose signature appears on any such obligation or coupon ceases to be the issuing authority before delivery thereof, such signature or facsimile nevertheless is valid and sufficient for all purposes as if the former issuing authority had remained the issuing authority until such delivery; and in case the seal to be affixed to obligations has been changed after a facsimile of the seal has been imprinted on such obligations, such facsimile seal shall continue to be sufficient as to such obligations and obligations issued in substitution or exchange therefor.
(G) All obligations are negotiable instruments and securities under Chapter 1308. of the Revised Code, subject to the provisions of the bond proceedings as to registration. The obligations may be issued in coupon or in registered form, or both, as the issuing authority determines. Provision may be made for the registration of any obligations with coupons attached thereto as to principal alone or as to both principal and interest, their exchange for obligations so registered, and for the conversion or reconversion into obligations with coupons attached thereto of any obligations registered as to both principal and interest, and for reasonable charges for such registration, exchange, conversion, and reconversion.
(H) Obligations may be sold at public sale or at private sale, as determined in the bond proceedings.
(I) Pending preparation of definitive obligations, the issuing authority may issue interim receipts or certificates which shall be exchanged for such definitive obligations.
(J) In the discretion of the issuing authority, obligations may be secured additionally by a trust agreement or indenture between the issuing authority and a corporate trustee which may be any trust company or bank possessing corporate trust powers that has a place of business within or without the state. Any such agreement or indenture may contain the order authorizing the issuance of the obligations, any provisions that may be contained in any bond proceedings, and other provisions which are customary or appropriate in an agreement or indenture of such type, including, but not limited to:
1. (1) Maintenance of each pledge, trust agreement, indenture, or other instrument comprising part of the bond proceedings until the state has fully paid the bond service charges on the obligations secured thereby, or provision therefor has been made;
2. (2) In the event of default in any payments required to be made by the bond proceedings, or any other agreement of the issuing authority made as a part of the contract under which the obligations were issued, enforcement of such payments or agreement by mandamus, the appointment of a receiver, suit in equity, action at law, or any combination of the foregoing;
3. (3) The rights and remedies of the holders of obligations and of the trustee, and provisions for protecting and enforcing them, including limitations on the rights of individual holders of obligations;
4. (4) The replacement of any obligations that become mutilated or are destroyed, lost, or stolen;
5. (5) Such other provisions as the trustee and the issuing authority agree upon, including limitations, conditions, or qualifications relating to any of the foregoing.
(K) Any holder of obligations or a trustee under the bond proceedings, except to the extent that the holder's or trustee's rights are restricted by the bond proceedings, may by any suitable form of legal proceedings, protect and enforce any rights under the laws of this state or granted by such bond proceedings. Such rights include the right to compel the performance of all duties of the issuing authority and the director of transportation required by the bond proceedings or sections 5531.09 and 5531.10 of the Revised Code; to enjoin unlawful activities; and in the event of default with respect to the payment of any bond service charges on any obligations or in the performance of any covenant or agreement on the part of the issuing authority or the director of transportation in the bond proceedings, to apply to a court having jurisdiction of the cause to appoint a receiver to receive and administer the pledged receipts and special funds, other than those in the custody of the treasurer of state, which are pledged to the payment of the bond service charges on such obligations or which are the subject of the covenant or agreement, with full power to pay, and to provide for payment of bond service charges on, such obligations, and with such powers, subject to the direction of the court, as are accorded receivers in general equity cases, excluding any power to pledge additional revenues or receipts or other income or moneys of the state or local governmental entities, or agencies thereof, to the payment of such principal and interest and excluding the power to take possession of, mortgage, or cause the sale or otherwise dispose of any project facilities. Each duty of the issuing authority and the issuing authority's officers and employees, and of each state or local governmental agency and its officers, members, or employees, undertaken pursuant to the bond proceedings or any loan, loan guarantee, lease, lease-purchase agreement, or other agreement made under authority of section 5531.09 of the Revised Code, and in every agreement by or with the issuing authority, is hereby established as a duty of the issuing authority, and of each such officer, member, or employee having authority to perform such duty, specifically enjoined by the law resulting from an office, trust, or station within the meaning of section 2731.01 of the Revised Code. The person who is at the time the issuing authority, or the issuing authority's officers or employees, are not liable in their personal capacities on any obligations issued by the issuing authority or any agreements of or with the issuing authority.
(L) The issuing authority may authorize and issue obligations for the refunding, including funding and retirement, and advance refunding with or without payment or redemption prior to maturity, of any obligations previously issued by the issuing authority or district obligations. Such refunding obligations may be issued in amounts sufficient for payment of the principal amount of the prior obligations or district obligations, any redemption premiums thereon, principal maturities of any such obligations or district obligations maturing prior to the redemption of the remaining obligations or district obligations on a parity therewith, interest accrued or to accrue to the maturity dates or dates of redemption of such obligations or district obligations, and any expenses incurred or to be incurred in connection with such issuance and such refunding, funding, and retirement. Subject to the bond proceedings therefor, the portion of proceeds of the sale of refunding obligations issued under this division to be applied to bond service charges on the prior obligations or district obligations shall be credited to an appropriate account held by the trustee for such prior or new obligations or to the appropriate account in the bond service fund for such obligations or district obligations. Obligations authorized under this division shall be deemed to be issued for those purposes for which such prior obligations or district obligations were issued and are subject to the provisions of this section pertaining to other obligations, except as otherwise provided in this section. The last maturity of obligations authorized under this division shall not be later than the latest permitted maturity of the original securities issued for the original purpose.
(M) The authority to issue obligations under this section includes authority to issue obligations in the form of bond anticipation notes and to renew the same from time to time by the issuance of new notes. The holders of such notes or interest coupons pertaining thereto shall have a right to be paid solely from the pledged receipts and special funds that may be pledged to the payment of the bonds anticipated, or from the proceeds of such bonds or renewal notes, or both, as the issuing authority provides in the order authorizing such notes. Such notes may be additionally secured by covenants of the issuing authority to the effect that the issuing authority and the state will do such or all things necessary for the issuance of such bonds or renewal notes in the appropriate amount, and apply the proceeds thereof to the extent necessary, to make full payment of the principal of and interest on such notes at the time or times contemplated, as provided in such order. For such purpose, the issuing authority may issue bonds or renewal notes in such principal amount and upon such terms as may be necessary to provide funds to pay when required the principal of and interest on such notes, notwithstanding any limitations prescribed by or for purposes of this section. Subject to this division, all provisions for and references to obligations in this section are applicable to notes authorized under this division. The issuing authority in the bond proceedings authorizing the issuance of bond anticipation notes shall set forth for such bonds an estimated interest rate and a schedule of principal payments for such bonds and the annual maturity dates thereof.
(N) Obligations issued under this section are lawful investments for banks, societies for savings, savings and loan associations, deposit guarantee associations, trust companies, trustees, fiduciaries, insurance companies, including domestic for life and domestic not for life, trustees or other officers having charge of sinking and bond retirement or other special funds of political subdivisions and taxing districts of this state, the commissioners of the sinking fund of the state, the administrator of workers' compensation, the state teachers retirement system, the public employees retirement system, the school employees retirement system, and the Ohio police and fire pension fund, notwithstanding any other provisions of the Revised Code or rules adopted pursuant thereto by any agency of the state with respect to investments by them, and are also acceptable as security for the deposit of public moneys.
(O) Unless otherwise provided in any applicable bond proceedings, moneys to the credit of or in the special funds established by or pursuant to this section may be invested by or on behalf of the issuing authority only in notes, bonds, or other obligations of the United States, or of any agency or instrumentality of the United States, obligations guaranteed as to principal and interest by the United States, obligations of this state or any political subdivision of this state, and certificates of deposit of any national bank located in this state and any bank, as defined in section 1101.01 of the Revised Code, subject to inspection by the superintendent of financial institutions. If the law or the instrument creating a trust pursuant to division (J) of this section expressly permits investment in direct obligations of the United States or an agency of the United States, unless expressly prohibited by the instrument, such moneys also may be invested in no-front-end-load money market mutual funds consisting exclusively of obligations of the United States or an agency of the United States and in repurchase agreements, including those issued by the fiduciary itself, secured by obligations of the United States or an agency of the United States; and in collective investment funds as defined in division (A) of section 1111.01 of the Revised Code and consisting exclusively of any such securities. The income from such investments shall be credited to such funds as the issuing authority determines, and such investments may be sold at such times as the issuing authority determines or authorizes.
(P) Provision may be made in the applicable bond proceedings for the establishment of separate accounts in the bond service fund and for the application of such accounts only to the specified bond service charges on obligations pertinent to such accounts and bond service fund and for other accounts therein within the general purposes of such fund. Unless otherwise provided in any applicable bond proceedings, moneys to the credit of or in the several special funds established pursuant to this section shall be disbursed on the order of the treasurer of state, provided that no such order is required for the payment from the bond service fund when due of bond service charges on obligations.
(Q)
1. (1) The issuing authority may pledge all, or such portion as the issuing authority determines, of the pledged receipts to the payment of bond service charges on obligations issued under this section, and for the establishment and maintenance of any reserves, as provided in the bond proceedings, and make other provisions therein with respect to pledged receipts as authorized by this chapter, which provisions are controlling notwithstanding any other provisions of law pertaining thereto.
2. (2) An action taken under division (Q)(2) of this section does not limit the generality of division (Q)(1) of this section, and is subject to division (C) of this section and, if and to the extent otherwise applicable, Section 13 of Article VIII, Ohio Constitution. The bond proceedings may contain a covenant that, in the event the pledged receipts primarily pledged and required to be used for the payment of bond service charges on obligations issued under this section, and for the establishment and maintenance of any reserves, as provided in the bond proceedings, are insufficient to make any such payment in full when due, or to maintain any such reserve, the director of transportation shall so notify the governor, and shall determine to what extent, if any, the payment may be made or moneys may be restored to the reserves from lawfully available moneys previously appropriated for that purpose to the department of transportation. The covenant also may provide that if the payments are not made or the moneys are not immediately and fully restored to the reserves from such moneys, the director shall promptly submit to the governor and to the director of budget and management a written request for either or both of the following:
  1. (a) That the next biennial budget submitted by the governor to the general assembly include an amount to be appropriated from lawfully available moneys to the department for the purpose of and sufficient for the payment in full of bond service charges previously due and for the full replenishment of the reserves;
  2. (b) That the general assembly be requested to increase appropriations from lawfully available moneys for the department in the current biennium sufficient for the purpose of and for the payment in full of bond service charges previously due and to come due in the biennium and for the full replenishment of the reserves. The director of transportation shall include with such requests a recommendation that the payment of the bond service charges and the replenishment of the reserves be made in the interest of maximizing the benefits of the state infrastructure bank. Any such covenant shall not obligate or purport to obligate the state to pay the bond service charges on such bonds or notes or to deposit moneys in a reserve established for such payments other than from moneys that may be lawfully available and appropriated for that purpose during the then-current biennium.
(R) There is hereby created the state infrastructure bank revenue bond service fund, which shall be in the custody of the treasurer of state but shall not be a part of the state treasury. All moneys received by or on account of the issuing authority or state agencies and required by the applicable bond proceedings, consistent with this section, to be deposited, transferred, or credited to the bond service fund, and all other moneys transferred or allocated to or received for the purposes of the fund, shall be deposited and credited to such fund and to any separate accounts therein, subject to applicable provisions of the bond proceedings, but without necessity for any act of appropriation. The state infrastructure bank revenue bond service fund is a trust fund and is hereby pledged to the payment of bond service charges to the extent provided in the applicable bond proceedings, and payment thereof from such fund shall be made or provided for by the treasurer of state in accordance with such bond proceedings without necessity for any act of appropriation.
(S) The obligations issued pursuant to this section, the transfer thereof, and the income therefrom, including any profit made on the sale thereof, shall at all times be free from taxation within this state.