FIRST REGULAR SESSION
94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES DENISON (Sponsor), JETTON, KINGERY, CUNNINGHAM (145), RUESTMAN, SCHAAF, WRIGHT, POLLOCK, SCHOELLER, BRANDOM, FAITH, THOMSON, WETER, VIEBROCK, WOOD, NANCE, LOEHNER, PARSON, RUZICKA, WELLS, FISHER AND FRANZ (Co-sponsors).
Read 1st time March 27, 2007 and copies ordered printed.
D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
JOINT RESOLUTION
Submitting to the qualified voters of Missouri an amendment repealing section 37(h) of article III of the Constitution of Missouri, and adopting one new section in lieu thereof relating to stormwater control bonds.
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring therein:
That at the next general election to be held in the state of Missouri, on Tuesday next following the first Monday in November, 2008, or at a special election to be called by the governor for that purpose, there is hereby submitted to the qualified voters of this state, for adoption or rejection, the following amendment to article III of the Constitution of the state of Missouri:
Section A. Section 37(h), article III, Constitution of Missouri, is repealed and one new section adopted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 37(h), to read as follows:
Section 37(h). 1. In addition to any other indebtedness authorized under this constitution or the laws of this state, the general assembly may authorize the contracting of an indebtedness on behalf of the state of Missouri and the issuance of bonds or other evidences of indebtedness not exceeding in the aggregate the sum of two hundred million dollars for the purpose of providing funds for use in this state for stormwater control plans, studies and projects in counties of the first classification and in any city not within a county, through grants and loans administered by the clean water commission and the department of natural resources pursuant to the procedures in chapter 644, RSMo. The bonds shall be issued by the state board of fund commissioners from time to time and in such amounts as may be necessary to carry on the program of the clean water commission and the department of natural resources as determined by the general assembly for the financing and constructing of these plans, studies and projects by any municipality, sewer district, sewer district established pursuant to article VI, section 30(a) of the Missouri Constitution, water district, or any combination of the same located in a county of the first classification or in any city not within a county or by any county of the first classification. The board of fund commissioners shall offer such bonds at public sale, and shall provide such method as it may deem necessary for the advertisement of the sale of each issue of bonds before such bonds are sold. The proceeds of the sale or sales of any bonds issued hereunder shall be paid into the state treasury and be credited to a fund to be designated the "Stormwater Control Fund". The bonds shall be retired serially and by installments within a period not to exceed twenty-five years from their date of issue and shall bear interest at a rate or rates not exceeding the rate permitted by law. The proceeds of the sale of the bonds herein authorized shall be expended for the purposes for which the bonds are hereinabove authorized to be issued.
2. The bonds and the interest thereon shall be paid out of the "Stormwater Control Bond and Interest Fund", which is hereby created, and the payment of such bonds and the interest thereon shall be secured by a pledge of the full faith, credit and resources of the state of Missouri. Upon the issuance of such bonds, or any portion thereof, the state board of fund commissioners shall notify the commissioner of administration of the amount of money required, in the remaining portion of the fiscal year during which such bonds shall have been issued, for the payment of interest on the bonds, and of the amount of money required for the payment of interest on the bonds in the next succeeding fiscal year, and to pay such bonds as they mature. Thereafter, within thirty days after the beginning of each fiscal year, the state board of fund commissioners shall notify the commissioner of administration of the amount of money required for the payment of interest on the bonds in the next succeeding fiscal year and to pay such bonds maturing in the next succeeding fiscal year.
3. It shall be the duty of the commissioner of administration to transfer at least monthly, from the state general revenue fund, after deducting therefrom the proportionate part thereof appropriated for the support of the free public schools, and to credit to the stormwater control bond and interest fund such sum as may be necessary from time to time until there shall have been transferred to such fund the amount so certified to the commissioner of administration by the state board of fund commissioners, as provided in this section.
4. If at any time after the issuance of any of the bonds, it shall become apparent to the commissioner of administration that the funds available in the state general revenue fund will not be sufficient for the payment of the sinking fund and interest on outstanding obligations of the state and for the purpose of public education and the principal and interest maturing and accruing on the bonds during the next succeeding fiscal year, a direct tax shall be levied upon all taxable tangible property in the state for the payment of such bonds and the interest that will accrue thereon. In such event, it shall be the duty of the commissioner of administration annually, on or before the first day of July, to determine the rate of taxation necessary to be levied upon all taxable tangible property within the state to raise the amount of money needed to pay the principal of and interest on such bonds maturing and accruing in the next succeeding fiscal year, taking into consideration available funds, delinquencies and costs of collection. The commissioner of administration shall annually certify the rate of taxation so determined to the county clerk of each county and to the comptroller or other officer in the city of St. Louis whose duty it shall be to make up and certify the tax books wherein are extended the ad valorem state taxes. It shall be the duty of such clerks and the comptroller or other proper officer in the city of St Louis to extend upon the tax books the taxes to be collected and to certify the same to the collectors of the revenue of their respective counties and of the city of St. Louis, who shall collect such taxes at the same time and in the same manner and by the means as are now or may hereafter be provided by law for the collection of state and county taxes, and to pay the same into the state treasury for the credit of the stormwater control bond and interest fund.
5. All funds paid into the stormwater control bond and interest fund shall be and stand appropriated without legislative action to the payment of principal and interest of the bonds, there to remain until paid out in discharge of the principal of such bonds and the interest accruing thereon, and no part of such fund shall be used for any other purpose so long as any of the principal of such bonds and the interest thereon shall be unpaid. The general assembly may appropriate in any year such amount from the stormwater control fund as it determines to be necessary for the purposes specified in this section[; provided that such appropriations may not exceed twenty million dollars, in the aggregate, per fiscal year. Of those grant and loan funds appropriated pursuant to this section, fifty percent shall be allocated to grants and fifty percent shall be allocated to loans]. Grants [shall be fifty percent of the cost of the plan, study or project and] may be combined with loans such as those provided by the commission or the department. Funding for grants and loans from the stormwater control fund shall be [dispersed] initially offered to eligible recipients in counties of the first classification and in a city not within a county in an amount equal to the percentage ratio that the population of the recipient county or city bears to the total population of all counties of the first classification and cities not within a county as determined by the last decennial census. Any city with a population of at least twenty-five thousand inhabitants located in such counties of the first classification shall receive such funds directly in an amount equal to the percentage ratio that the city's population bears to the total population of the county. Other provisions of this section notwithstanding, in those cities or counties served by a sewer district established pursuant to article VI, section 30(a) of the Missouri Constitution, such district shall receive the grants or loans directly.
6. Repayments of stormwater loans and any interest payments on such loans shall be deposited in the "Stormwater Loan Revolving Fund" which is hereby created. The fund shall be used for purposes of financing and constructing stormwater control plans, studies, and projects. Any unexpended balance in the stormwater loan revolving fund shall not be subject to biennial transfer pursuant to the provisions of section 33.080, RSMo. All interest earned on funds in the stormwater loan revolving fund shall accrue to the fund.
7. The general assembly may enact such laws as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this section, including but not limited to reallocation of remaining funds after the initial offer has been made.
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