2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE NINE - Highways and Traffic (§§ 1-8 — 5725) › Chapter 15 - Highway and Transportation Authority (§§ 2001 — 2035) › § 2012 - Bonds

(a) By authority of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, granted hereby, the Authority may from time to time issue and sell its own bonds and have them outstanding for any of its corporate purposes.
(b) The bonds may be authorized by resolution or resolutions of the Authority and may be of such series, may bear such date or dates, may mature at such time or times not exceeding fifty (50) years from their respective dates, may bear interest at such rate or rates not exceeding the maximum rate then permitted by law, may be in such denomination or denominations, may be in such form, either coupon or registered bonds, may carry such registration or conversion privileges, may be executed in such manner, may be payable in such medium of payment and at such place or places, may be subject to such terms of redemption, with or without premium, may be declared or become due at such time before the maturity date thereof, may provide for the replacement of mutilated, destroyed, stolen or lost bonds, may be authenticated in such manner and upon compliance with such conditions, and may contain such other terms and covenants as such resolution or resolutions may provide. The bonds may be sold at public or private sale for such price or prices as the Authority shall determine; Provided, That refunding bonds may be exchanged for outstanding bonds of the Authority on such terms as the Authority may deem to be in the best interests of the Authority. Notwithstanding the form and tenor thereof, and in the absence of an express recital on the face thereof that the bond is nonnegotiable, all bonds of the Authority shall at all times be, and shall be understood to be, negotiable instruments for all purposes.
(c) The bonds of the Authority bearing the signature of the officers of the Authority in office on the date of the signing thereof shall be valid and binding obligations, notwithstanding that before the delivery thereof and payment therefor any or all of the officers whose signatures or facsimile signatures appear thereon shall have ceased to be such officers of the Authority. The validity of the authorization and issuance of the bonds shall not be dependent on or affected in any way by any proceedings relating to the construction, acquisition, extension, or improvement of the undertaking for which the bonds are issued, or by any contracts made in connection with such undertaking. Any resolution authorizing the bonds may provide that any such bond may contain a recital that it is issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, and any bond containing such recital under authority of any such resolution shall be conclusively deemed to be valid and to have been issued in conformity with the provisions of this chapter.
(d) Pending the execution and delivery of definitive bonds, temporary or interim bonds, receipts or certificates may be issued in such form and with such provisions, as may be provided in such resolution or resolutions.
(e) Any resolution or resolutions authorizing any bonds may contain provisions, which shall be a part of the contract with the holders of the bonds:
(1) As to the disposition of the entire gross or net revenues and present or future income or other funds of the Authority, including the pledging of all or any part thereof to secure payment of the principal of and interest on the bonds to the extent permitted by the provisions of § 2004(l) of this title;
(2) as to the tolls, fees and other charges to be imposed, and the application, use, and disposition of the amounts that may be raised by the collection thereof and from other receipts of the Authority;
(3) as to the setting aside of reserves for amortization funds, and the regulation and disposition thereof;
(4) as to limitations on the right of the Authority to restrict and regulate the use of any traffic facility or part thereof;
(5) as to limitations on the purposes to which the proceeds of the sale of any issue of bonds then or thereafter to be issued may be applied;
(6) as to limitations on the issuance of additional bonds;
(7) as to the procedure by which the terms of any resolution authorizing bonds or any trust agreement or other contract with or for the benefit of the bondholders, may be amended or abrogated, and the amount of the bonds the holders of which must consent thereto, and the manner in which such consent may be given;
(8) as to the amount and kind of insurance to be maintained on the traffic facilities of the Authority, and the use and disposition of insurance moneys;
(9) covenanting against pledging all or any part of the revenues, other income and other funds of the Authority to which its right then exists or the right to which may therefor come into existence;
(10) as to events of default and terms and conditions upon which any or all of the bonds shall become or may be declared due before maturity and as to the terms and conditions upon which such declaration and its consequences may be waived;
(11) as to the rights, liabilities, powers and duties arising upon the breach by the Authority of any of its covenants, conditions, or obligations;
(12) as to the vesting in a trustee or trustees the right to enforce any covenants made to secure, to pay, or in relation to the bonds; as to the powers and duties of each trustee or trustees, and the limitation of the liabilities thereof; and as to the terms and conditions upon which the holders of the bonds or any proportion or percentage of them may enforce any covenants made under this chapter or duties imposed hereby;
(13) as to the manner of collecting the tolls, fees and other charges for the use of the traffic facilities or the services rendered by the Authority; and
(14) as to any other acts and things not inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter that may be necessary or convenient for the security of the bonds, or as may tend to make the bonds more marketable.
(f) Neither the members of the Authority nor any person executing the bonds shall be liable personally on the bonds.
(g) The Authority is authorized to purchase any outstanding bonds issued or assumed by it with any funds available therefor, at a price not more than the principal amount or the current redemption price thereof and the accrued interest.
(h) The Authority is hereby authorized to issue bonds from time to time for the principal sums that the Authority deems are needed to provide sufficient funds for the full or partial payment of the cost of any project for the construction, operation and maintenance of new highways, bridges, avenues, expressways and its ancillary transit facilities authorized by §§ 2004a—2004c of this title. The bonds issued by the Authority under this provision may be made payable from all or part of the revenue derived by the Authority, or by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico through the Department of Transportation and Public Works under the clauses of a financing contract relating to the project. The bonds issued by the Authority under this provision shall not encumber its credit margin nor constitute a debt of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, nor of any of its political subdivisions, which shall not be liable therefor. The bonds or other obligations issued for the construction of highways and accessory roads authorized by §§ 2004a—2004c of this title and which shall be operated by private entities, shall be payable solely from the funds generated by said project, which funds shall have been pignorated to pay for such bonds under the financing contract and the trust deed by virtue of which the bond issue is authorized. The bonds and other obligations issued to finance projects authorized by §§ 2004a—2004c of this title may be payable biannually, annually or under any terms agreed upon in the trust deed authorizing the bond issue for this purpose. Part of the bond issue shall be offered on the local market in denominations that do not exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000).
History —June 23, 1965, No. 74, p. 158, § 12; Aug. 24, 1990, No. 4, p. 1400, § 8; July 26, 1991, No. 29, § 3.