Senate Bill 2984

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE ISSUANCE OF GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW FACILITY FOR THE PUBLIC HEALTH LABORATORY OF THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FOR THE RENOVATION, REPAIR AND EXPANSION OF THE UNDERWOOD BUILDING; TO PROVIDE THAT THE PRINCIPAL OF AND INTEREST ON THE BONDS WILL BE PAID PRIMARILY FROM FEES RECEIVED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH FOR NEWBORN SCREENING TESTS THAT ARE EVALUATED IN THE PUBLIC HEALTH LABORATORY; TO AMEND SECTION 41-21-203, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. As used in Sections 1 through 18 of this act, the following words shall have the meanings ascribed in this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

(a) "Accreted value" of any bond means, as of any date of computation, an amount equal to the sum of (i) the stated initial value of the bond, plus (ii) the interest accrued on the bond from the issue date to the date of computation at the rate, compounded semiannually, that is necessary to produce the approximate yield to maturity shown for bonds of the same maturity.

(b) "Commission" means the State Bond Commission.

(d) "State" means the State of Mississippi.

(e) "Act" means Sections 1 through 18 of this act.

SECTION 2. (1) (a) There is created in the State Treasury a special fund to be known as the "Mississippi Public Health Laboratory Construction and Underwood Building Repair, Renovation and Expansion Fund." The fund shall be maintained by the State Treasurer as a special fund, separate and apart from the State General Fund. Unexpended amounts remaining in the special fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund, and any interest earned or investment earnings on amounts in the special fund shall be deposited to the credit of the special fund. Monies in the special fund may not be used or expended for any purpose except as authorized under this act.

(b) Monies deposited into the special fund shall be disbursed, in the discretion of the Department of Finance and Administration, to pay the costs of construction of a new facility for the public health laboratory of the State Department of Health, the cost of renovation and/or repair of the Underwood Building necessitated by that construction and the relocation of the public health laboratory into the new facility, and the cost of expansion of the Underwood Building to secure high quality teleconferencing and telemedicine capability related to public health preparedness and for additional office space for epidemiology staff.

(2) Amounts deposited into the special fund shall be disbursed to pay the costs of the projects described in subsection (1) of this section. Promptly after the commission has certified, by resolution duly adopted, that the projects described in subsection (1) of this section shall have been completed, abandoned, or cannot be completed in a timely fashion, any amounts remaining in the special fund shall be applied to pay debt service on the bonds issued under this act, in accordance with the proceedings authorizing the issuance of the bonds and as directed by the commission.

(3) The department, acting through the Bureau of Building, Grounds and Real Property Management, is expressly authorized and empowered to receive and expend any local or other source funds in connection with the expenditure of funds provided for in this section.

(4) The expenditure of monies in the special fund shall be under the direction of the department, and those monies shall be paid by the State Treasurer upon warrants issued by the department, which warrants shall be issued upon requisitions signed by the executive director of the department or his designee.

SECTION 3. (1) For the purposes of providing for the payment of the principal of and interest on bonds issued under this act, there is created in the State Treasury a special fund to be known as the "Mississippi Public Health Laboratory Construction and Underwood Building Repair, Renovation and Expansion Bond Sinking Fund." The bond sinking fund shall consist of monies deposited into the fund by the State Department of Health from net fees, after payment of operating expenses, received by the Department of Health for newborn screening tests performed under Section 41-21-203, Mississippi Code of 1972, that are not less than the amount necessary to pay the principal of and interest on bonds issued under this act, and such other amounts as may be paid into the bond sinking fund by appropriation or other authorization by the Legislature. Unexpended amounts remaining in the bond sinking fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund, and any interest earned or investment earnings on amounts in the bond sinking fund shall be deposited into the bond sinking fund.

(2) During any period in which debt service payments from the bond sinking fund are deferred as provided in subsection (2) of Section 4 of this act, and at any other time when the funds required to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds issued under this act are more than the amounts available in the bond sinking fund, the Legislature shall appropriate the balance of the amount necessary to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds issued under this act from the State General Fund.

(3) The total amount of all payments deposited into the bond sinking fund until the maturity date of the bonds authorized under this act shall be in an amount sufficient to retire the bonds, including debt service paid by the state during any period in which debt service payments from the bond sinking fund are deferred as provided in subsection (2) of Section 4 of this act.

SECTION 4. (1) The department, at one time or from time to time, may declare by resolution the necessity for issuance of general obligation bonds of the State of Mississippi to provide funds for all costs incurred or to be incurred for the purposes described in Section 2 of this act. Upon the adoption of a resolution by the Department of Finance and Administration, declaring the necessity for the issuance of any part or all of the bonds authorized by this section, the department shall deliver a certified copy of its resolution or resolutions to the commission. Upon receipt of the resolution, the commission, in its discretion, may act as the issuing agent, prescribe the form of the bonds, advertise for and accept bids, issue and sell the bonds so authorized to be sold and do any and all other things necessary and advisable in connection with the issuance and sale of the bonds. The total amount of bonds issued under this act shall not exceed Twenty-five Million Dollars ($25,000,000.00).

(2) The department may provide in the resolution declaring the necessity for the bonds that the payment of the debt service on the bonds from the bond sinking fund created under Section 3 of this act may be deferred for a period of time not to exceed three (3) years from the date of the issuance of the bonds.

(3) Any investment earnings on amounts deposited into the special fund created in Section 2 of this act shall be used to pay debt service on bonds issued under this act, in accordance with the proceedings authorizing issuance of the bonds.

SECTION 5. The principal of and interest on the bonds authorized under this act shall be payable in the manner provided in this section. The bonds shall bear such date or dates, be in such denomination or denominations, bear interest at such rate or rates (not to exceed the limits set forth in Section 75-17-101, Mississippi Code of 1972), be payable at such place or places within or without the State of Mississippi, shall mature absolutely at such time or times not to exceed twenty-five (25) years from date of issue, be redeemable before maturity at such time or times and upon such terms, with or without premium, shall bear such registration privileges, and shall be substantially in such form, all as determined by resolution of the commission.

SECTION 6. The bonds authorized by this act shall be signed by the chairman of the commission, or by his facsimile signature, and the official seal of the commission shall be affixed thereto, attested by the secretary of the commission. The interest coupons, if any, to be attached to the bonds may be executed by the facsimile signatures of those officers. Whenever any such bonds have been signed by the officials designated to sign the bonds who were in office at the time of the signing but who may have ceased to be those officers before the sale and delivery of the bonds, or who may not have been in office on the date that the bonds may bear, the signatures of those officers upon the bonds and coupons shall nevertheless be valid and sufficient for all purposes and have the same effect as if the person so officially signing the bonds had remained in office until their delivery to the purchaser, or had been in office on the date the bonds may bear. However, notwithstanding anything in this act to the contrary, the bonds may be issued as provided in the Registered Bond Act of the State of Mississippi.

SECTION 7. All bonds and interest coupons issued under the provisions of this act have all the qualities and incidents of negotiable instruments under the provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code, and in exercising the powers granted by this act, the commission shall not be required to and need not comply with the provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code.

SECTION 8. The commission shall act as the issuing agent for the bonds authorized under this act, prescribe the form of the bonds, advertise for and accept bids, issue and sell the bonds so authorized to be sold, pay all fees and costs incurred in the issuance and sale, and do any and all other things necessary and advisable in connection with the issuance and sale of the bonds. The commission is authorized and empowered to pay the costs that are incident to the sale, issuance and delivery of the bonds authorized under this act from the proceeds derived from the sale of the bonds. The commission shall sell the bonds on sealed bids at public sale, and for such price as it may determine to be for the best interest of the State of Mississippi, but no such sale shall be made at a price less than par plus accrued interest to the date of delivery of the bonds to the purchaser. All interest accruing on the bonds so issued shall be payable semiannually or annually; however, the first interest payment may be for any period of not more than one (1) year.

Notice of the sale of any such bonds shall be published at least one time, not less than ten (10) days before the date of sale, and shall be so published in one or more newspapers published or having a general circulation in the City of Jackson, Mississippi, and in one or more other newspapers or financial journals with a national circulation, to be selected by the commission.

The commission, when issuing any bonds under the authority of this act, may provide that bonds, at the option of the State of Mississippi, may be called in for payment and redemption at the call price named therein and accrued interest on such date or dates named therein.

SECTION 9. The bonds issued under the provisions of this act are general obligations of the State of Mississippi, and for the payment thereof, the full faith and credit of the State of Mississippi is irrevocably pledged. The principal of and the interest on the bonds shall be payable primarily from the bond sinking fund created in Section 3 of this act in the manner provided in that section. If the funds available in the bond sinking fund and any funds appropriated by the Legislature for those purposes are insufficient to pay the principal of and the interest on the bonds as they become due, then the amount of the deficiency shall be paid by the State Treasurer from any funds in the State Treasury not otherwise appropriated. All those bonds shall contain recitals on their faces substantially covering the provisions of this section.

SECTION 10. Upon the issuance and sale of bonds under the provisions of this act, the commission shall transfer the proceeds of any such sale or sales to the special fund created in Section 2 of this act. The proceeds of the bonds shall be disbursed solely upon the order of the department under such restrictions, if any, as may be contained in the resolution providing for the issuance of the bonds.

SECTION 11. The bonds authorized under this act may be issued without any other proceedings or the happening of any other conditions or things other than those proceedings, conditions and things that are specified or required by this act. Any resolution providing for the issuance of bonds under the provisions of this act shall become effective immediately upon its adoption by the commission, and any such resolution may be adopted at any regular or special meeting of the commission by a majority of its members.

SECTION 12. The bonds authorized under this act may be validated in the Chancery Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Mississippi, in the manner and with the force and effect provided by Chapter 13, Title 31, Mississippi Code of 1972, for the validation of county, municipal, school district and other bonds. The notice to taxpayers required by those statutes shall be published in a newspaper published or having a general circulation in the City of Jackson, Mississippi.

SECTION 13. Any holder of bonds issued under the provisions of this act or of any of the interest coupons pertaining to those bonds may, either at law or in equity, by suit, action, mandamus or other proceeding, protect and enforce any and all rights granted under this act, or under the resolution, and may enforce and compel performance of all duties required by this act to be performed, in order to provide for the payment of bonds and interest on the bonds.

SECTION 14. All bonds issued under the provisions of this act shall be legal investments for trustees and other fiduciaries, and for savings banks, trust companies and insurance companies organized under the laws of the State of Mississippi, and the bonds shall be legal securities that may be deposited with and shall be received by all public officers and bodies of this state and all municipalities and political subdivisions for the purpose of securing the deposit of public funds.

SECTION 15. Bonds issued under the provisions of this act and income from the bonds shall be exempt from all taxation in the State of Mississippi.

SECTION 16. The proceeds of the bonds issued under this act shall be used solely for the purposes herein provided, including the costs incident to the issuance and sale of such bonds.

SECTION 17. The State Treasurer is authorized, without further process of law, to certify to the Department of Finance and Administration the necessity for warrants, and the department is authorized and directed to issue those warrants, in such amounts as may be necessary to pay when due the principal of, premium, if any, and interest on, or the accreted value of, all bonds issued under this act; and the State Treasurer shall forward the necessary amount to the designated place or places of payment of those bonds in ample time to discharge the bonds, or the interest on the bonds, on the due dates thereof.

SECTION 18. This act shall be deemed to be full and complete authority for the exercise of the powers granted in this act, but this act shall not be deemed to repeal or to be in derogation of any existing law of this state.

SECTION 19. Section 41-21-203, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

41-21-203. (1) All newborn infants shall be screened by the physician or other health care provider attending the infant, using tests that have been approved by the State Board of Health, to detect those conditions listed in Section 41-21-201 and the other conditions specified by the State Board of Health for the comprehensive newborn screening program. However, no such tests shall be given to any child whose parents object thereto on the grounds that the test conflicts with his religious practices or tenets. The tests provided under the comprehensive newborn screening program shall be evaluated in laboratories located in the United States. The State Department of Health shall follow up all positive tests with the attending physician or other health care provider who notified the department thereof, and with the parents of the newborn child. The services and facilities of the State Department of Health and those of other state boards, departments and agencies cooperating with the State Department of Health in carrying out the comprehensive newborn screening program shall be made available to all newborn infants with abnormal screening tests.

(2) The State Department of Health shall provide ongoing epidemiologic surveillance of the comprehensive newborn screening program to determine the efficacy and cost effectiveness of screening newborn infants.

(3) The State Department of Health shall deposit into the Mississippi Public Health Laboratory Construction and Underwood Building Repair, Renovation and Expansion Bond Sinking Fund created in Section 3 of Senate Bill No. ____, 2006 Regular Session, such amounts as specified in Section 3 of Senate Bill No. ____, 2006 Regular Session, from any fees received for newborn screening tests performed under this section that are evaluated in the public health laboratory of the department.

SECTION 20. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.