The Florida Senate

348.219  Purposes and powers.--

(1)  The authority created and established by this part shall have the right to acquire, hold, construct, improve, maintain, operate, own, and lease in the capacity of lessor the Brevard County Expressway System, hereinafter referred to as "system."

(2)  It is the express intention of this part that the authority, in the construction of the Brevard County Expressway System, be authorized to construct any extensions, additions, or improvements to such system or appurtenant facilities, including all necessary approaches, roads, bridges, and avenues of access, with such changes, modifications, or revisions of such project as are deemed desirable and proper.

(3)  The authority is granted, and shall have and may exercise, all powers necessary, appurtenant, convenient, or incidental to the carrying out of the aforesaid purposes, including, but without being limited to, the following rights and powers:

(a)  To sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, and complain and defend in all courts.

(b)  To adopt, use, and alter at will a corporate seal.

(c)  To acquire, purchase, hold, lease as lessee, and use any franchise, property, real, personal, or mixed, tangible or intangible, or any interest therein, necessary or desirable for carrying out the purposes of the authority, and to sell, lease as lessor, transfer, and dispose of any property or interest therein at any time acquired by it.

(d)  To enter into and make leases for terms not exceeding 40 years, as either lessee or lessor, in order to carry out the right to lease as set forth in this part.

(e)  To enter into and make lease-purchase agreements with the Department of Transportation for terms not exceeding 40 years, or until any bonds secured by a pledge of rentals thereunder, and any refundings thereof, are fully paid as to both principal and interest, whichever is longer.

(f)  To fix, alter, charge, establish, and collect rates, fees, rentals, and other charges for the services and facilities of the Brevard County Expressway System, which rates, fees, rentals, and other charges shall always be sufficient to comply with any covenants made with the holders of any bonds issued pursuant to this part. Such right and power may be assigned or delegated by the authority to the Department of Transportation.

(g)  To borrow money and make and issue negotiable notes, bonds, refunding bonds, and other evidences of indebtedness or obligations, either in temporary or definitive form, hereinafter in this part sometimes called "bonds," of the authority for the purpose of financing all or part of the improvement, extension, or construction of the Brevard County Expressway System and appurtenant facilities, including all approaches, streets, roads, bridges, and avenues of access for such Brevard County Expressway System and for any other purpose authorized by this part, said bonds to mature in not more than 40 years from the date of issuance thereof, and to secure the payment of such bonds or any part thereof by a pledge of any or all of its revenues, rates, fees, rentals, or other charges, including all or any portion of the constitutional gas tax or the county gas tax, or both, and in general to provide for the security of such bonds and the rights and remedies of the holders thereof. The pledge of the constitutional gas tax or the county gas tax, or both, and the amount and conditions of such pledge shall be first approved by the Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County. However, no portion of the constitutional gas tax or the county gas tax, or both, may be pledged for the construction of any project for which a toll is to be charged unless the anticipated tolls are reasonably estimated by the board of county commissioners, at the date of its resolution pledging such funds, to be sufficient to cover the principal and interest of such obligations during the period when such pledge of funds will be in effect.

1.  The authority shall reimburse Brevard County for any sums expended from such gasoline tax funds used for the payment of such obligations. Any gasoline tax funds so disbursed shall be repaid when the authority deems it practicable, together with interest at the highest rate applicable to any obligations of the authority.

2.  In the event the authority determines to fund or refund any bonds theretofore issued by it or by the commission as aforesaid prior to the maturity thereof, the proceeds of such funding or refunding bonds shall, pending the prior redemption of the bonds to be funded or refunded, be invested in direct obligations of the United States; and it is the express intention of this part that such outstanding bonds may be funded or refunded by the issuance of bonds pursuant to this part, notwithstanding that part of such outstanding bonds will not mature or become redeemable until 10 years after the date of issuance of bonds pursuant to this part to fund or refund such outstanding bonds.

(h)  To make contracts of every name and nature and to execute all instruments necessary or convenient for the carrying on of its business.

(i)  Without limitation of the foregoing, to borrow money and accept grants from, and to enter into contracts, leases, or other transactions with, any federal agency, the state, any agency of the state, the County of Brevard, or any other public body of the state.

(j)  To have the power of eminent domain, including the procedural powers granted under both chapters 73 and 74.

(k)  To pledge, hypothecate, or otherwise encumber all or any part of the revenues, rates, fees, rentals, or other charges or receipts of the authority, including all or any portion of the constitutional gas tax or the county gas tax, or both, subject to the prior approval of the Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County as provided herein, as security for all or any of the obligations of the authority.

(l)  To do all acts and things necessary or convenient for the conduct of its business and the general welfare of the authority in order to carry out the powers granted to it by this part or any other law.

(m)  The authority is specifically authorized to construct a toll facility in Brevard County establishing a two-lane or four-lane bridge located in the southern area of Brevard County, south of the municipality of Melbourne, connecting existing U.S. Highway No. 1 with State Road A1A across the Indian River at such exact location as is determined by the authority to be economically feasible.

(4)  The authority shall have no power at any time or in any manner to pledge the credit or taxing power of the state or any political subdivision or agency thereof, including the County of Brevard; nor shall any of the obligations of the authority be deemed to be obligations of the state or of any political subdivision or agency thereof; nor shall the state or any political subdivision or agency thereof, except the authority, be liable for the payment of the principal of or interest on such obligations.

(5)  Anything in this part or any other provisions of the law to the contrary notwithstanding, the consent of any municipality shall not be necessary for any project of the authority, whether or not the project lies within the boundaries of any municipality, either in whole or in part.

History.--s. 4, ch. 72-408; s. 46, ch. 83-3.