CHAPTER 194
STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT AUTHORIZING BOND ISSUE FOR POST-WAR IMPROVEMENTS
AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE STATE OF DELAWARE TO BORROW TWO MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS ($2,500,000.00) AND ISSUE BONDS THEREFOR TO PROVIDE A POST-WAR HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM FOR THE PURPOSE OF ACQUIRING LANDS AND RIGHTS-OF-WAY AND CONSTRUCTING AND RECONSTRUCTING ROADS, HIGHWAYS, BRIDGES AND IMPROVEMENTS INCIDENTAL THERETO, AND PROVIDING THE FORM OF THE BONDS AND COUPONS AS WELL AS THE PROCEDURE FOR THE SALE THEREOF, AND PROVIDING THAT THE PROCEEDS OF SAID BONDS SHALL BE DEPOSITED IN A SPECIAL ACCOUNT TO THE CREDIT OF THE STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT, AND PROVIDING FOR THE PAYMENT OF PRINCIPAL AND INTEREST OF SAID BONDS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware, in General Assembly met (three-fourths of all the members elected to each House thereof concurring therein):
Section 1. The Governor, Secretary of State and State Treasurer of the State of Delaware, herein sometimes referred to as the "Issuing Officers", are hereby authorized, fully empowered and directed to borrow upon the faith and credit of the State of Delaware a sum of money not in excess of Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($2,500,000.00), which shall be used for the purpose of construction and the reconstruction of roads, highways, bridges, dams, locks, sewers, water mains and under-passes, and for the acquisition of land, rights-of-way, and the surveying, grading and landscaping thereof, and for the costs of labor, material, equipment, supplies, and for buildings or any other purposes incidental and necessary to the foregoing; and, the said "Issuing Officers" are hereby authorized, fully empowered and directed to sell, execute and deliver bonds in conformity with the provisions of this Act to an amount not to exceed the said sum of Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($2,500,000.00).
Section 2. The said bonds issued in accordance with the provisions of this Act shall be direct general obligations of the State, and the public faith and credit of the State of Delaware are hereby expressly pledged for the full and complete payment of the debt, principal and interest by this Act authorized, of the bonds hereby authorized to be issued and the coupons thereto attached, and the said bonds shall be exempt from taxation by the State or any political subdivisions thereof for any purpose.
Section 3. The said bonds shall recite that they are issued for the purposes set forth in Section 1 of this Act, that they are issued in pursuance of this Act and the Constitution of this State, and upon the sale and delivery of any such bond, such recitals shall be conclusive upon the State of Delaware and all and every other person whatsoever of the right, power and authority for the issuance of said bonds and the legality and validity of such bonds and of the principal debt and interest represented thereby, and the legality and validity of such bonds thereafter shall never be questioned in any court of law or equity by the State of Delaware or any person or persons for its use or in its behalf, and this provision shall be and become part of the contract and obligation represented by any such bond or bonds.
Section 4. The bonds issued under the authority of this Act shall be in denominations of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or multiple thereof, as shall be decided by the "Issuing Officers", or a majority of them, with coupons thereto attached for each half year's interest thereon. The said bonds shall be numbered consecutively, and shall be dated the first day of July of that year in which they shall be issued, and they shall bear interest from and after that date at a rate not exceeding two per centum (2%) per annum, interest payable semi-annually on the first day of January and July in each year that such bonds remain unpaid, at the Farmers' Bank of the State of Delaware, at Dover, upon presentation of a coupon representing such semi-annual interest.
The principal of said bonds shall be payable at said Bank twenty (20) years after the date thereof on presentation and surrender of said bonds, but the said bonds, or any of them, may be redeemed at the option of the State at the rate of one hundred and five per centum (105%) of the principal debt of the bond redeemed on any first day of January or first day of July after the said bonds, or any of them, shall have been issued for five (5) years, upon thirty (30) days' notice published in one newspaper in the City of Philadelphia and one newspaper published in the State of Delaware, indicating by their numbers the bonds thereby called and elected to be redeemed.
The said bonds shall be signed by the Governor, Secretary of State and State Treasurer on behalf of the State of Delaware, and shall have the Great Seal of the State impressed thereon.
The signature of the said State Treasurer shall be engraved, printed or written on such coupons, and when printed or engraved shall have the same effect as if written, and the coupon attached to each bond shall be numbered consecutively and bear the number of the bond to which it is attached to identify it therewith.
Section 5. For the purpose of designation and identification, any bond issued under the authority of this Act shall be known and styled "Post-War State Highway Improvement Bond".
Section 6. The said bonds shall be in the following form, to wit:
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
State of Delaware
No _____ Post-War State Highway Improvement Bond
THESE PRESENTS CERTIFY AND MAKE KNOWN that the STATE OF DELAWARE is held and firmly bound unto the bearer in the sum of ________ Dollars ($_____), lawful money of the United States of America, which the said State promises and binds itself to pay to the bearer at the Farmers' Bank of the State of Delaware, at Dover, Delaware, on the first day of January, A. D. 19___, with interest at the rate of per centum ( %), per annum, likewise payable at the Farmers' Bank of the State of Delaware, at Dover, Delaware, on the first days of January and July of each and every year, while the said principal sum remains unpaid, upon the presentation of the coupon as hereto annexed representing such semi-annual installments of interest, provided, however, and it is expressly stipulated, that the said State reserves the right and power at its option to call in, pay and redeem this bond at the rate of one hundred and five per centum (105%) of the principal debt hereof on the first day of January and July in or after the year 19 , pursuant to the notice in that behalf prescribed by an Act of the General Assembly under the authority of which this bond is issued; and provided further, that when this bond shall be called by the notice aforesaid, interest hereon shall cease to accrue from and after the first day of January and July (as the case may be) next succeeding the date of such notice.
This bond is one of the bonds authorized to be issued by an Act of the 114th session of the General Assembly of the State of Delaware entitled "An Act Authorizing the State of Delaware to Borrow Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($2,500,000.00) and Issue Bonds Therefor to Provide a Post-War Highway Improvement Program for the Purpose of Acquiring Lands and Rights-of-Way and Constructing and Reconstructing Roads, Highways, Bridges and Improvements Incidental Thereto, and Providing the Form of the Bonds and Coupons as well as the Procedure for the Sale Thereof, and Providing that the Proceeds of said Bonds shall be Deposited in a Special Account to the Credit of the State Highway Department, and Providing for the Payment of Principal and Interest of said Bonds", and is issued for the purpose set forth in Section 1 of said Act and in pursuance of said Act and the Constitution of the State of Delaware.
Dated at Dover, Delaware, the first day of July, A. D. 19___
WITNESSETH the Great Seal of the State of Delaware and the Hands of the Governor, Secretary of State and State Treasurer, the day and year aforesaid.
______________________
Governor
______________________
Secretary of State
______________________
State Treasurer
And the Coupons shall be in the following form, to wit:
No ______
The State of Delaware will pay to the bearer at the Farmers' Bank of the State of Delaware, at Dover, Delaware, on the first day of _____, A. D. 19___, the sum of ________Dollars ($______) for six months' interest on Bond No______ Post-War State Highway Improvement Bond.
Dated January 1, 19____
________________________
State Treasurer
It shall be the duty of the State Treasurer to provide a record of the proper size and form to be retained in his office in which he shall keep a record of all bonds which shall be paid and redeemed according to the number thereof, and in addition thereto he shall cause any such bond to be cancelled by making lines with red ink through the signatures of the Governor, Secretary of State and State Treasurer, and also by writing across the face thereof in red ink the following:
"This bond paid and redeemed this __________ day of ______, A. D. 19___
_________________________
State Treasurer"
As the said coupons are paid, it shall be the duty of the State Treasurer to mark the same in red ink across the face "Paid". All bonds paid and redeemed as well as all coupons paid, cancelled as aforesaid, shall be safely kept by the State Treasurer so long as any bond authorized by this Act is unpaid and not redeemed.
Section 7. Whenever the bonds authorized by this Act may be issued in conformity with the provisions of this Act, the "Issuing Officers" are hereby directed to advertise twice a week for four successive weeks in such newspapers and journals in and out of the State as in their judgment may be conducive to the sale of said bonds, that they will receive bids at such place or places that may be named in said advertisement for such bonds under such regulations as may be made in the discretion of the "Issuing Officers", and the accrued interest between the date of the bonds and the time of sale and delivery of and payment of said bonds shall be adjusted with the purchaser thereof under such regulations as may be made in the discretion of the "Issuing Officers", provided that any overdue coupons attached to the bonds shall, before the sale of said bonds, be detached and cancelled in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and upon the day mentioned in said advertisement as the day for opening bids for said bonds, the "Issuing Officers", or majority of them, shall receive such bids for the purchase of the bonds designated in said advertisement to be sold, and on opening of said bids, as many of said bonds as shall have been bid for, shall be awarded by the said "Issuing Officers" to the highest responsible bidder or bidders therefor, for cash, provided, the amount bid is adequate in the judgment of the "Issuing Officers" or majority of them. If two or more bidders have made the same bid and such bid is the highest, and the bonds so bid for by the highest responsible bidders are in excess of or equal to the whole amount of the bonds so offered for sale, such bonds shall be awarded to such highest responsible bidders bidding the same price in a ratable proportion. If any of said bonds so offered for sale are not bid for, or if any insufficient price be bid for them, they may be subsequently disposed of under the direction of the "Issuing Officers" at private sale upon the best terms they can obtain for the same, provided that they shall not be sold at private sale for less than par and accrued interest.
Section 8. Any money received by the State Treasurer from the sale of bonds issued under the ,provisions of this Act shall be placed to the credit of the State Highway Department to be used exclusively for the purposes set forth in Section 1 of this Act and kept by him in a special account at the Farmers' Bank of the State of Delaware at Dover, such special account to be known as "Post-War State Highway Improvement Account".
There is hereby appropriated to the State Highway Department of the State of Delaware, the said sum of Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($2,500,000.00), received from the sale of the bonds authorized hereby, which shall be used for the purposes set forth in Section 1 hereof, and the State Treasurer is hereby authorized and directed to disburse the said moneys deposited in a special account as aforesaid to the credit of the State Highway Department upon its warrant signed by the Chairman and the Secretary or the Chief Engineer, stating the use of the moneys for which such warrant calls, which use shall be for the purposes set forth in Section 1 of this Act. No funds remaining unexpended in said special account at the end of any fiscal year shall revert to the use or purposes of any other funds of the State, but shall remain in said account to be used exclusively for the purposes set forth in Section 1 of this Act.
Section 9. That the General Assembly shall appropriate funds sufficient to provide for the payment of maturity, principal and interest of said Bonds from the date of issue to the end of the ensuing biennium on June 30, 1949, and the, Budget Appropriation Bill which shall be enacted and approved by the General Assembly at the 115th session and at each and every subsequent biennial session thereof, shall contain under the Debt Service Item provisions for the payment of maturity principal and interest of said bonds issued under the authority of this Act, and such of the revenues of the State of Delaware as are not prohibited by constitutional provision or committed by preceding statutes for other purposes are hereby pledged for the redemption and cancellation of said bonds and payment of interest thereon.
Approved April 5, 1947.