00                            HOUSE BILL NO. 491                                                                          
01 "An Act authorizing the Alaska Railroad Corporation to issue revenue bonds to finance                                   
02 rail transportation projects that qualify for federal financial participation; and                                      
03 providing for an effective date."                                                                                       
04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
05    * Section 1.  The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section                         
06 to read:                                                                                                                
07       LEGISLATIVE AUTHORIZATION AND APPROVAL. (a) The Alaska Railroad                                                   
08 Corporation is authorized to issue revenue bonds under the power granted to it in                                       
09 AS 42.40.250 to finance rail transportation projects that qualify for federal financial                                 
10 participation and associated costs, including, without limitation, reserves for debt service and                        
11 capitalized interest, if necessary or appropriate, and costs of issuance. The maximum principal                         
12 amount of bonds that the Alaska Railroad Corporation may issue under this section is                                    
13 $165,000,000. The Alaska Railroad Corporation may issue the bonds in a single issuance or in                            
14 several issuances, without limitation as to number of issuances or timing, and as the Alaska                            

01 Railroad Corporation determines best, furthers the purpose of financing the rail transportation                         
02 projects and associated costs. The bonds shall be repaid from the federal money derived from                            
03 annual apportionments paid to the Alaska Railroad Corporation by the Federal Transit                                    
04 Administration or other funds available to the corporation. In no event shall the general credit                        
05 of the Alaska Railroad Corporation or the state be pledged for the repayment of these bonds.                            
06       (b)  This authorization extends to bonds issued to refund the bonds authorized in this                            
07 Act. The principal amount of the bonds authorized in this Act may be increased in an issue of                           
08 refunding bonds in an amount equal to the costs of refunding if the refunding is undertaken to                          
09 achieve debt service savings.                                                                                           
10       (c)  This section constitutes the approval required by AS 42.40.285 for the issuance of                           
11 the bonds described in this section.                                                                                    
12       (d)  The bonds authorized to be issued under this section are issued by a public                                  
13 corporation and an instrumentality of the state for an essential public and governmental                                
14 purpose.                                                                                                                
15       (e)  In this section, "bonds" means bond anticipation notes, notes, refunding bonds, or                           
16 other obligations.                                                                                                      
17    * Sec. 2. This Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).