The Florida Senate

343.837  Lease-purchase agreement.--

(1)  In order to effectuate the purposes of this part and as authorized by this part, the authority may enter into a lease-purchase agreement with the department relating to and covering the U.S. 98 Corridor System.

(2)  Such lease-purchase agreement shall provide for the leasing of the system by the authority, as lessor, to the department, as lessee, shall prescribe the term of such lease and the rentals to be paid thereunder, and shall provide that, upon the completion of the faithful performance thereunder and the termination of such lease-purchase agreement, title in fee simple absolute to the system as then constituted shall be transferred in accordance with law by the authority to the state, and the authority shall deliver to the department such deeds and conveyances as shall be necessary or convenient to vest title in fee simple absolute in the state.

(3)  Such lease-purchase agreement may include such other provisions, agreements, and covenants as the authority and the department deem advisable or required, including, but not limited to, provisions as to the bonds to be issued for the purposes of this part, the completion, extension, improvement, operation, and maintenance of the system and the expenses and the cost of operation of the authority, the charging and collection of tolls, rates, fees, and other charges for the use of the services and facilities thereof, and the application of federal or state grants or aid which may be made or given to assist the authority in the completion, extension, improvement, operation, and maintenance of the system.

(4)  The department as lessee under such lease-purchase agreement may pay as rentals thereunder any rates, fees, charges, funds, moneys, receipts, or income accruing to the department from the operation of the system and may also pay as rentals any appropriations received by the department pursuant to any act of the Legislature heretofore or hereafter enacted; however, nothing in this section or in such lease-purchase agreement is intended to require, nor shall this part or such lease-purchase agreement require, the making or continuance of such appropriations, nor shall any holder of bonds issued pursuant to this part ever have any right to compel the making or continuance of such appropriations.

(5)  The department shall have power to covenant in any lease-purchase agreement that it will pay all or any part of the cost of the operation, maintenance, repair, renewal, and replacement of the corridor system, and any part of the cost of completing the corridor system to the extent that the proceeds of bonds issued are insufficient, from sources other than the revenues derived from the operation of the system.

(6)  The U.S. 98 Corridor System shall be a part of the State Highway System as defined in s. 334.03, and the department may, upon the request of the authority, expend out of any funds available for that purpose, and use such of its engineering and other forces, as may be necessary and desirable in the judgment of the department, for the operation of the authority and for traffic surveys, borings, surveys, preparation of plans and specifications, estimates of cost, and other preliminary engineering and other studies.

History.--s. 8, ch. 2005-281.