Session Laws

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. Section 4 of chapter 701 of the acts of 1960 is hereby amended by striking out clause (b), as most recently amended by chapter 524 of the acts of 1978, and inserting in place thereof the following clause:-

(b) To issue bonds of the Authority payable solely from the funds herein provided for such payment for the purpose of paying for replacements and new construction or acquisition of vessels and other facilities required to provide adequate service; the total amount to be outstanding at any one time, including refunding bonds but excluding the bonds to be refunded thereby, not to exceed twenty-five million dollars.

SECTION 2. Clause (j) of section 4 of chapter 701 of the acts of 1960, as added by chapter 779 of the acts of 1969, is hereby amended by striking out the first two sentences and inserting in place thereof the following two sentences:- To provide by resolution at one time or from time to time for the issue of interest bearing or discounted notes for the purposes and in the amounts that bonds may be issued. The notes shall be payable within three years from their dates, but the principal of and interest on notes issued for a shorter period may be renewed or paid from time to time by the issue of other notes hereunder maturing within the required time from the date of the original loan being refunded.

SECTION 3. Section 9 of said chapter 701 is hereby further amended by striking out the first paragraph, as most recently amended by chapter 717 of the acts of 1975, and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

The revenues derived from the operation of the steamship line shall be set aside at regular intervals in the following order, in the following amounts and for the following purposes:

First: to an operations fund, an amount sufficient to pay the cost of maintenance, repair and operation of the steamship line for the current month and the next ensuing month, and to maintain working capital for such purposes in an amount not exceeding one thirty-sixth of the operating budget for the then current fiscal year;

Second: to a sinking fund, an amount sufficient to provide for the payment of the interest on and for the amortization and payment of the principal of all bonds as the same shall become due and payable;

Third: to a replacement fund, if so provided in the resolution authorizing the issuance of bonds, such amount, if any, as the Authority may deem necessary or advisable for depreciation of property and for obsolescence and losses in respect to property sold, destroyed or abandoned, and for improvements to and acquisitions of real and personal property, provided that accumulated amounts not needed for the foregoing purposes may from time to time be transferred to the sinking fund to be used for the purchase or redemption of bonds;

Fourth: to a reserve fund, an amount sufficient to maintain said fund at a level equal to five per cent of the principal amount of all bonds outstanding or six hundred thousand dollars, whichever is greater; and

Fifth: to the sinking fund, all of the remaining revenues, to be used within a reasonable time for the purchase or redemption of bonds or, in the Authority's discretion, to be transferred to the replacement fund or to the capital improvement fund to be used for any purposes for which bonds may be issued.