MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2000 Regular Session

To: Public Buildings, Grounds and Lands; Ways and Means

By: Representative Montgomery (74th)

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION, FURNISHING AND EQUIPPING OF A FACILITY TO HOUSE A CONFERENCE AND CULTURAL CENTER FOR THE CITY OF CLINTON, MISSISSIPPI, AND THE MISSISSIPPI MUSIC HERITAGE MUSEUM; TO PROVIDE THAT UPON COMPLETION OF SUCH FACILITY THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION SHALL LEASE SUCH FACILITY TO THE CLINTON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION, INC., FOR A NOMINAL FEE FOR A PERIOD OF TIME NOT TO EXCEED 20 YEARS; TO PROVIDE FOR THE ISSUANCE OF $7,000,000.00 IN STATE GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS TO FUND THE CONSTRUCTION, FURNISHING AND EQUIPPING OF SUCH FACILITY; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. A facility to house a conference and cultural center for the City of Clinton and the Mississippi Music Heritage Museum shall be located within the corporate limits of Clinton, Mississippi, on approximately six and one-fourth (6-1/4) acres of land owned by the Clinton Community Development Foundation, Inc. This land has frontage along the route of the Clinton Parkway, a north/south roadway that will traverse the City of Clinton from Springridge Road to Pinehaven Road and is located approximately one-half (1/2) mile south of the proposed Clinton exit off the Natchez Trace Parkway and approximately one and one-half (1-1/2) miles north of Exit 36 on Interstate 20.

SECTION 2. The Department of Finance and Administration shall proceed with the construction, furnishing and equipping of a facility to house a conference and cultural center for the City of Clinton, Mississippi, and the Mississippi Music Heritage Museum as soon as practicable.

SECTION 3. Upon completion of the construction, furnishing and equipping of the facility to house the conference and cultural center for the City of Clinton, Mississippi, and the Mississippi Music Heritage Museum as provided for in this act, the Department of Finance and Administration shall enter into a lease, sublease or operating agreement for a period not exceeding twenty (20) years, with the Clinton Community Development Foundation, Inc., under which the Clinton Community Development Foundation, Inc., shall assume exclusive responsibility for operating and maintaining the facility. The benefit to Mississippi from the operation of such lease, sublease or operating agreement and the use of the land to construct the facility shall be considered as sufficient consideration. The lease, sublease or operating agreement shall be executed for a nominal fee and it shall be presumed that such lease shall not amount to a donation of state property.

SECTION 4. (1) Upon the receipt of matching funds or verification that the matching funds described in this subsection (1) are forthcoming, the Department of Finance and Administration, 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 purchasing necessary property for and constructing, furnishing and equipping a facility to house a conference and cultural center for the City of Clinton and the Mississippi Music Heritage Museum as authorized under Sections 1 through 3 of this act. The issuance of the bonds authorized by this act are conditioned upon the private sector or local or federal government providing Two Million Dollars ($2,000,000.00) for the project authorized under Sections 1 through 3 of this act. The funds required pursuant to this subsection may be provided in the form of cash or in-kind contributions.

(2) 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 general obligation bonds authorized by this section, the department shall deliver a certified copy of its resolution or resolutions to the State Bond Commission. Upon receipt of such resolution, the State Bond 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 such bonds.

(3) The amount of bonds issued under this act shall not exceed Seven Million Dollars ($7,000,000.00).

SECTION 5. The principal of and interest on the bonds authorized under this act shall be payable in the manner provided in this section. Such bonds shall bear such date or dates, be in such denomination or denominations, bear interest at such rate or rates not exceeding the limits set forth in Section 75-17-101, 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 (20) 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 State Bond Commission.

SECTION 6. The bonds authorized under this act shall be signed by the Chairman of the State Bond Commission, or by his facsimile signature, and the official seal of the State Bond Commission shall be affixed thereto, attested by the Secretary of the State Bond Commission. The interest coupons, if any, to be attached to such bonds may be executed by the facsimile signatures of such officers. Whenever any such bonds shall have been signed by the officials designated to sign the bonds who were in office at the time of such signing but who may have ceased to be such officers before the sale and delivery of such bonds, or who may not have been in office on the date such bonds may bear, the signatures of such officers upon such bonds and coupons shall nevertheless be valid and sufficient for all purposes and have the same effect as if the person so officially signing such bonds had remained in office until their delivery to the purchaser, or had been in office on the date such bonds may bear. However, notwithstanding anything in this act to the contrary, such 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 Mississippi Uniform Commercial Code, and in exercising the powers granted by this act, the State Bond Commission shall not be required to and need not comply with the provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code.

SECTION 8. The State Bond 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 such issuance and sale, and do all other things necessary and advisable in connection with the issuance and sale of the bonds. The State Bond Commission may 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 State Bond Commission shall sell such 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 may 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 such 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 State Bond Commission.

The State Bond Commission, when issuing any bonds under the authority of this act, may provide that the 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. If the funds appropriated by the Legislature are insufficient to pay the principal of and the interest on such bonds as they become due, then the deficiency shall be paid by the State Treasurer from any funds in the State Treasury not otherwise appropriated. All such bonds shall contain recitals on their faces substantially covering the provisions of this section.

SECTION 10. 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 of Finance and Administration is authorized and directed to issue such 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 such bonds in ample time to discharge such bonds, or the interest on the bonds, on their due dates.

SECTION 11. (1) Upon the issuance and sale of bonds under this act, the State Bond Commission shall deposit the proceeds of any such sale or sales in a special fund created in the State Treasury to be known as the "Clinton Conference and Cultural Center and Mississippi Music Heritage Museum Fund." Such fund shall be maintained by the State Treasurer as a separate and special fund, separate and apart from the General Fund of the state. Unexpended amounts remaining in the 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 fund shall be deposited into such fund. The proceeds of such bonds shall be used solely for the purposes provided in this act, including the costs incident to the issuance and sale of such bonds. The costs incident to the issuance and sale of such bonds shall be disbursed by warrant upon requisition of the State Bond Commission, signed by the chairman of the commission. The remaining monies in the fund shall be expended solely under the direction of the Department of Finance and Administration under such restrictions, if any, as may be contained in the resolution providing for the issuance of the bonds, and such funds shall be paid by the State Treasurer upon warrants issued by the Department of Finance and Administration.

(2) Upon the completion or abandonment of the project described in this act, as evidenced by a resolution adopted by the Department of Finance and Administration certifying that all such projects have been completed or abandoned, the balance, if any, remaining in the Clinton Conference and Cultural Center and Mississippi Music Heritage Museum Fund shall be promptly applied to pay debt service on bonds issued under this act, in accordance with the proceedings authorizing the issuance of such bonds.

SECTION 12. 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 this act shall become effective immediately upon its adoption by the State Bond Commission, and any such resolution may be adopted at any regular or special meeting of the State Bond Commission by a majority of its members.

SECTION 13. The bonds authorized under the authority of 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 such statutes shall be published in a newspaper published or having a general circulation in the City of Jackson, Mississippi.

SECTION 14. Any holder of bonds issued under this act or of any of the interest coupons pertaining to the bonds may, either at law or in equity, by suit, action, mandamus or other proceeding, protect and enforce all rights granted under this act, or under such 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 15. All bonds issued under 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 such 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 16. Bonds issued under this act and income from the bonds shall be exempt from all taxation in the State of Mississippi.

SECTION 17. This act shall be deemed to be full and complete authority for the exercise of the powers granted, but this act shall not be deemed to repeal or to be in derogation of any existing law of this state.

SECTION 18. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2000.