TITLE 50 STATE GOVERNMENT

Section 23. Environmental Finance Authority, 50-23-1 through 50-23-35.

ARTICLE 1 ENVIRONMENTAL FINANCE AUTHORITY

50-23-4. Definitions.

As used in this chapter, the term:

1. "Authority" means the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority.
2. "Bond" includes revenue bond, bond, note, or other obligation.
3. "Cost of project" or "cost of any project" means:
   1. All costs of acquisition, by purchase or otherwise, construction, assembly, installation, modification, renovation, extension, or rehabilitation incurred in connection with any project or any part of any project;
   2. All costs of real property, fixtures, or personal property used in or in connection with or necessary for any project or for any facilities related thereto, including but not limited to, the cost of all land, interests in land, estates for years, easements, rights, improvements, water rights, and connections for utility services; the cost of fees, franchises, permits, approvals, licenses, and certificates; the cost of securing any such franchises, permits, approvals, licenses, or certificates; the cost of preparation of any application therefor; and the cost of all fixtures, machinery, equipment, furniture, and other property used in or in connection with or necessary for any project;
   3. All financing charges, bond insurance, and loan or loan guarantee fees and all interest on revenue bonds, notes, or other obligations of the authority which accrue or are paid prior to and during the period of construction of a project and during such additional period as the authority may reasonably determine to be necessary to place such project in operation;
   4. All costs of engineering, surveying, planning, environmental assessments, financial analyses, and architectural, legal, and accounting services and all expenses incurred by engineers, surveyors, planners, environmental scientists, fiscal analysts, architects, attorneys, accountants, and any other necessary technical personnel in connection with any project;
   5. All expenses for inspection of any project;
   6. All fees of fiscal agents, paying agents, and trustees for bondholders under any bond resolution, trust agreement, indenture of trust, or similar instrument or agreement; all expenses incurred by any such fiscal agents, paying agents, and trustees; and all other costs and expenses incurred relative to the issuance of any bonds, revenue bonds, notes, or other obligations for any project, including bond insurance;
   7. All fees of any type charged by the authority in connection with any project;
   8. All expenses of or incidental to determining the feasibility or practicability of any project;
   9. All costs of plans and specifications for any project;
   10. All costs of title insurance and examinations of title with respect to any project;
   11. Repayment of any loans for the advance payment of any part of any of the foregoing costs, including interest thereon and any other expenses of such loans;
   12. Administrative expenses of the authority and such other expenses as may be necessary or incidental to any project or the financing thereof or the placing of any project in operation; and
   13. The establishment of a fund or funds for the creation of a debt service reserve, a renewal and replacement reserve, or such other funds or reserves as the authority may approve with respect to the financing and operation of any project and as may be authorized by any bond resolution, trust agreement, indenture, or trust or similar instrument or agreement pursuant to the provisions of which the issuance of any revenue bonds, notes, or other obligations of the authority may be authorized.

       Any cost, obligation, or expense incurred for any of the purposes specified in this paragraph shall be a part of the cost of the project and may be paid or reimbursed as such out of the proceeds of revenue bonds, notes, or other obligations issued by the authority.

4. "County" means any county created under the Constitution or laws of this state.
5. "Environmental facilities" means any projects, structures, and other real or personal property acquired, rehabilitated, constructed, or planned:
   1. For the purposes of supplying, distributing, and treating water and diverting, channeling, or controlling water flow and head including, but not limited to, surface or ground water, canals, reservoirs, channels, basins, dams, aqueducts, standpipes, penstocks, conduits, pipelines, mains, pumping stations, water distribution systems, compensating reservoirs, intake stations, waterworks or sources of water supply, wells, purification or filtration plants or other treatment plants and works, connections, water meters, mechanical equipment, electric generating equipment, rights of flowage or division and other plant structures, equipment, conveyances, real or personal property or rights therein and appurtenances, furnishings, accessories, and devices thereto necessary or useful and convenient for the collection, conveyance, distribution, pumping, treatment, storing, or disposing of water;
   2. For the purposes of collecting, treating, or disposing of sewage including, but not limited to, main, trunk, intercepting, connecting, lateral, outlet, or other sewers, outfall, pumping stations, treatment and disposal plants, ground water rechange basins, backflow prevention devices, sludge dewatering or disposal equipment and facilities, clarifiers, filters, phosphorus removal equipment and other plants, soil absorption systems, innovative systems or equipment, structures, equipment, vehicles, conveyances, real or personal property or rights therein, and appurtenances thereto necessary or useful and convenient for the collection, conveyance, pumping, treatment, neutralization, storing, and disposing of sewage;
   3. For the purposes of collecting, treating, recycling, composting, or disposing of solid waste, including, but not limited to, trucks, dumpsters, intermediate reception stations or facilities, transfer stations, incinerators, shredders, treatment plants, landfills, landfill equipment, barrels, binders, barges, alternative technologies and other plant structures, equipment, conveyances, improvements, real or personal property or rights therein, and appurtenances, furnishings, accessories, and devices thereto necessary or useful and convenient for the collection, treatment, or disposal of solid waste; or
   4. For the purposes of carrying out a community land conservation project or a state land conservation project pursuant to Chapter 22 of Title 36.
6. "Environmental services" means the provision, collectively or individually, of water facilities, sewerage facilities, solid waste facilities, community land conservation projects or state land conservation projects pursuant to Chapter 22 Title 36, or management services.
7. "Local government" or "local governing authority" means any municipal corporation or county or any local water or sewer or sanitary district and any state or local authority, board, or political subdivision created by the General Assembly or pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the state.
8. "Management services" means technical, administrative, instructional, or informational services provided to any current or potential loan recipient in, but not limited to, the areas of service charge structure; accounting, capital improvements budgeting or financing; financial reporting, treasury management, debt structure or administration or related fields of financial management; contract or grant administration; management of water, sewer, or solid waste systems; and economic development administration or strategies.Management services may be furnished either directly, on-site, or through other written or oral means of communication and may consist of reports, studies, presentations, or other analyses of a written or oral nature.
9. "May" means permission and not command.
10. "Municipal corporation" or "municipality" means any city or town in this state.

    (10.1) "Nongovernmental entity" means a nonprofit organization the primary purposes of which are the permanent protection and conservation of land and natural resources.

    (10.2) "Nonprofit corporation" means any corporation qualified as a not for profit corporation by the Internal Revenue Service under Section 501(c)(3) or Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code.

11. "Obligation" means any bond, revenue bond, note, lease, contract, evidence of indebtedness, debt, or other obligation of the authority, the state, or local governments which are authorized to be issued under this chapter or under the Constitution or other laws of this state, including refunding bonds.
12. "Project" means:
    1. The acquisition, construction, installation, modification, renovation, repair, extension, renewal, replacement, or rehabilitation of land, interest in land, buildings, structures, facilities, or other improvements and the acquisition, installation, modification, renovation, repair, extension, renewal, replacement, rehabilitation, or furnishing of fixtures, machinery, equipment, furniture, or other property of any nature whatsoever used on, in, or in connection with any such land, interest in land, building, structure, facility, or other improvement, all for the essential public purpose of providing environmental facilities and services so as to meet public health and environmental standards, protect the state's valuable natural resources, or aid the development of trade, commerce, industry, agriculture, and employment opportunities, including, but not limited to, any project as defined by Code Section 12-5-471;
    2. Projects authorized by the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority created by Chapter 32 of this title and as defined in such chapter, where such authority has been directed to issue revenue bonds, bonds, notes, or other obligations to finance such project or the cost of a project in whole or in part, provided that such authority's power with respect to such projects authorized by the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority shall be limited to providing such financing and related matters as authorized by the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority; and
    3. Projects authorized by the Atlanta-region Transit Link "ATL" Authority created pursuant to Chapter 39 of this title and as defined in such chapter, where such authority has been directed to issue revenue bonds, bonds, notes, or other obligations to finance such project or the cost of a project in whole or in part, provided that such authority's power with respect to such projects authorized by the Atlanta-region Transit Link "ATL" Authority shall be limited to providing such financing and related matters as authorized by the Atlanta-region Transit Link "ATL" Authority.
13. "Revenue bond" includes bond, note, or other obligation.
14. "Self-liquidating project" means any project or combination of projects if, in the judgment of the authority, the revenues, rents, or earnings to be derived by the authority therefrom will be sufficient to pay the cost of maintaining, repairing, and operating the project and to pay the principal and interest of revenue bonds which may be issued for the cost of such project, projects, or combination of projects.
15. "Sewerage facility" means any environmental facility described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (5) of this Code section, defining "environmental facilities."

    (15.5) "Solid waste facility" means any environmental facility described in subparagraph (C) of paragraph (5) of this Code section, defining "environmental facilities."

16. "Water facility" means any environmental facility described in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (5) of this Code section, defining "environmental facilities."

(Code 1981, §50-23-4, enacted by Ga. L. 1986, p. 569, § 1; Ga. L. 1989, p. 1289, §§ 1-3; Ga. L. 1992, p. 6, § 50; Ga. L. 1994, p. 1108, § 6; Ga. L. 1999, p. 112, § 8; Ga. L. 2006, p. 267, § 1/HB 1319; Ga. L. 2008, p. 90, § 3-1/HB 1176; Ga. L. 2008, p. 644, § 2-2/SB 342; Ga. L. 2010, p. 949, § 1/HB 244; Ga. L. 2018, p. 377, § 4-7/HB 930.)

The 2018 amendment, effective May 3, 2018, deleted "and" at the end of subparagraph (12)(A); in subparagraph (12)(B), inserted "and" following "Chapter 32 of this title" near the beginning, substituted "such" for "the" in two places in the middle, and added "; and" at the end; and added subparagraph (12)(C). See Editor's note for applicability.