Session Laws

Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, since the current favorable market opportunity may cease to exist and the authorization by the federal government that allows advance refunding may be severely restricted by the new federal tax proposal, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 29 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 53 the following section:-

Section 53A. The state treasurer is hereby authorized, upon request of the governor, to issue and sell refunding bonds of the commonwealth in an amount to be specified by the governor from time to time for the purpose of paying, at maturity or upon acceleration or redemption, any bonds of the commonwealth then outstanding, including the payment of any redemption premium thereon and any interest accrued or to accrue to the date of maturity, acceleration or redemption of such bonds; provided, however, that the state treasurer shall not issue any such refunding bonds unless he shall find that the present value, discounted at such rate as he shall deem appropriate, of the principal and interest payments due on the refunding bonds is less than the present value, discounted at such rate, of the principal and interest payments to be paid, from the proceeds of such refunding bonds and investment earnings thereon, on the bonds to be refunded. Such refunding bonds may be issued at such time prior to the maturity, acceleration or redemption of the bonds to be refunded thereby as the state treasurer, with the approval of the governor, may deem advisable. The issuance of such bonds, the security therefor, the maturities and other details thereof, the rights of the holders thereof and the rights, duties and obligations of the commonwealth with respect thereto shall be governed by the provisions of this chapter which relate to the issuance of bonds, insofar as such provisions may be appropriate therefor. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the provisions of section forty-nine applicable to sinking funds established with trustees shall apply to the deposit of refunding bond proceeds with a trustee except that such proceeds shall be held for the benefit of the holders of the bonds to be refunded thereby. All bonds issued by the commonwealth as aforesaid shall be designated on their face General Obligation Refunding Bonds and shall be issued for such maximum term of years, not exceeding thirty years, as the governor may recommend to the general court pursuant to Section 3 of Article LXII of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth, provided, however, that the bonds of any particular issue shall mature not later than five years after the date of final maturity of the bonds being refunded by such issue.

The state treasurer shall file a report with the house and senate committees on ways and means no later than thirty days after the sale of any General Obligation Refunding Bonds. Said report shall include written documentation of compliance with the provisions of this section, including, but not limited to, the issues or issues to be refunded, the projected dollar savings and the projected present value savings. `t(

SECTION 2. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the bonds which the state treasurer is authorized to issue under section fifty-three A of chapter twenty-nine of the General Laws, inserted by section one of this act, for the purpose of refunding outstanding bonds of the commonwealth as provided in said section fifty-three A shall be issued for terms not to exceed thirty years; provided, however, that all such bonds shall be payable not later than June thirtieth, two thousand and twenty and that the bonds of any particular issue shall mature not later than five years after the date of final maturity of the bonds being refunded by such issue, as recommended by the governor in a message to the general court dated January sixteenth, nineteen hundred and eighty-six in pursuance of Section 3 of Article LXII of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth.