TITLE 50 STATE GOVERNMENT

Section 34. OneGeorgia Authority, 50-34-1 through 50-34-18.

ARTICLE 6 CONSTRUCTION OF CHAPTER

50-34-2. Definitions.

As used in this chapter, the term:

1. "Authority" means the OneGeorgia Authority or any subsidiary corporation created by the board of directors of the OneGeorgia Authority pursuant to this chapter.
2. "Bonds" or "revenue bonds" means any bonds, revenue bonds, notes, interim certificates, bond or revenue anticipation notes, or other evidences of indebtedness of the authority issued under this chapter, including, without limitation, obligations issued to refund any of the foregoing, notwithstanding that such bonds may be secured by the full faith and credit of a business, enterprise, or federal tobacco settlement proceeds paid to the State of Georgia.
3. "Business" means any lawful activity engaged in for profit or not for profit, whether organized as a corporation; a partnership, either general or limited; a sole proprietorship; an educational institution; or otherwise.
4. "Cost of project," "cost of any project," or "cost of an enterprise" means, as the context may require, all, including but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, of the following:
   1. All costs of acquisition, by purchase or otherwise, and all costs of installation, modification, repair, reconditioning, renovation, remodeling, extension, rehabilitation, or preservation incurred in connection with any project or part of any project;
   2. All costs of real property, fixtures, equipment, or personal property used in or in connection with or necessary or convenient for any project or any facility or facilities related thereto, including, but not limited to, cost of land, interests in land, options to purchase, estates for years, easements, rights, improvements, water rights, connections for utility services, and infrastructure and connections for broadband services as such term is defined in Code Section 50-40-1; the cost of fees, franchises, permits, approvals, licenses, and certificates or the cost of securing any of the foregoing; the cost of preparation of any application therefor; and the cost of all fixtures, machinery, equipment, furniture, and other property used in connection with or necessary or convenient for any project or facility;
   3. All financing charges, including, but not limited to, premiums and prepayment penalties; interest accrued or to accrue prior to and up to three years after the acquisition, installation, financing, or commencement of a project and any other cost related to a project up to three years after such acquisition, installation, financing, refinancing, or commencement; any loan or loan guarantee fees; and any fees paid to or which accrue to the authority regardless of the timing of such fees, prior to, during the operation of, or after the acquisition, installation, financing, refinancing, or commencement of a project;
   4. The cost of architectural, engineering, legal, financing, surveying, planning, environmental reports and inspections, accounting services, and any and all other necessary technical personnel or other expenses necessary or incident to planning, providing, or determining the need for or the feasibility or practicability of a project or financial assistance to or financing of a project;
   5. All fees for legal, accounting, bond, underwriting, trustee, paying agent, option provider, credit enhancement, and fiscal agent services for bondholders under any bond resolution, trust agreement, indenture, or similar instrument or agreement and all expenses incurred by any of the above;
   6. The cost of plans and specifications for any project;
   7. The cost of title insurance and title examinations with respect to any project;
   8. Administrative costs, expenses, and fees rendered or incurred with respect to any project;
   9. The cost of the establishment of any reserves, including, but not limited to, any sinking fund and debt service reserves;
   10. All costs of servicing any loans made or acquired;
   11. The cost of the authority incurred in connection with providing a project, including reasonable sums to reimburse the authority for time spent by its agents or employees in providing and financing a project; and
   12. The cost paid or incurred for the administration of any program for the purchase or lease of or the making of loans for a project by the authority and any program for the sale or lease of or making of loans for a project to any business, enterprise, local government, or any other person.
5. "Enterprise" means a business engaged in manufacturing, producing, processing, assembling, repairing, extracting, warehousing, handling, or distributing any agricultural, manufactured, mining, or industrial product or any combination of the foregoing; a business engaged in furnishing or facilitating communications, computer services, research, or transportation; a business engaged in tourism; a business engaged in commercial or retail sales or service; a business engaged in construction; and corporate and management offices and services provided in connection with any of the foregoing, in isolation or in any combination that involves, in each case, either the creation of new or additional employment, the retention of existing employment or payroll, or the increase of average payroll for employees of such enterprise.
6. "Facilities" means any real property, personal property, or mixed property of any and every kind.
7. "Local government" or "local governing authority" means any municipal corporation or county or any state or local authority, board, or political subdivision created by the General Assembly or pursuant to the Constitution and laws of this state.
8. "Operating capital" means the cost of general operation and administration of a business for a temporary period, not to exceed one year.
9. "Project" includes:
   1. Any one or more buildings or structures to be used in the production, manufacturing, processing, assembling, storing, or handling of any agricultural, manufactured, mining, or industrial product or any combination of the foregoing, in every case with all necessary or useful furnishings, machinery, equipment, parking facilities, landscaping, and facilities for outdoor storage, all as determined by the authority, which determination shall be final and not subject to review; and there may be included as part of any such project all improvements necessary to the full utilization thereof, including site preparation, roads and streets, sidewalks, water supply, outdoor lighting, belt line railroad sidings and lead tracks, bridges, causeways, terminals for railroad, automotive, and air transportation, transportation facilities incidental to the project, and the dredging and improving of harbors and waterways, none of which foregoing descriptive words shall be construed to constitute a limitation;
   2. The acquisition, construction, leasing, or equipping of new industrial facilities or the improvement, modification, acquisition, expansion, modernization, leasing, equipping, or remodeling of existing industrial facilities;
   3. The acquisition, construction, improvement, or modification of any property, real or personal, used as air or water pollution control facilities which the authority has determined is necessary for the operation of the industry or industries which the same is to serve and which is necessary for the public welfare, provided that, for the purposes of this subparagraph, the term "air pollution control facility" means any property used, in whole or in substantial part, to abate or control atmospheric pollution or contamination by removing, altering, disposing of, or storing atmospheric pollutants or contaminants, if such facility is in furtherance of applicable federal, state, or local standards for abatement or control of atmospheric pollutants or contaminants; and provided, further, that, for the purpose of this subparagraph, the term "water pollution control facility" means any property used, in whole or in substantial part, to abate or control water pollution or contamination by removing, altering, disposing of, or storing pollutants, contaminants, wastes, or heat, including the necessary intercepting sewers, outfall sewers, pumping, power, and other equipment, holding ponds, lagoons, and appurtenances thereto, if such facility is in the furtherance of applicable federal, state, or local standards for the abatement or control of water pollution or contamination;
   4. The acquisition, construction, improvement, or modification of any property, real or personal, used as or in connection with a sewage disposal facility or a solid waste disposal facility which the authority has determined is necessary for the operation of the industries which the same is to serve and which is necessary for the public welfare, provided that, for the purposes of this subparagraph, the term "sewage disposal facility" means any property used for the collection, storage, treatment, utilization, processing, or final disposal of sewage; for the purposes of this subparagraph, the term "solid waste disposal facility" means any property used for the collection, storage, treatment, utilization, processing, or final disposal of solid waste; for the purposes of this subparagraph, the term "solid waste" means garbage, refuse, or other discarded solid materials, including solid waste materials resulting from industrial and agricultural operations and from community activities but does not include solids or dissolved materials in domestic sewage or other significant pollutants in water resources, such as salt, dissolved or suspended solids in industrial waste-water effluents, and dissolved materials in irrigation return flows; for the purposes of this subparagraph, the word "garbage" includes putrescible wastes, including animal and vegetable matters, animal offal and carcasses, and recognizable industrial by-products but excludes sewage and human wastes; and for the purposes of this subparagraph, the word "refuse" includes all nonputrescible wastes;
   5. The acquisition, construction, leasing, or financing of:
      1. An office building facility and related real and personal property for use by the authority or by any business, nonprofit, or charitable corporation, association, or similar entity which will further the development of trade, commerce, industry, or employment opportunities in this state and which shall be adjacent to or used in conjunction with any other existing or proposed project defined in this paragraph, which existing or proposed project is used or intended to be used by the authority or by such business or charitable corporation, association, or similar entity;
      2. A separate office building facility and related real and personal property for use by the authority or by any business or charitable corporation, association, or similar entity which will further the development of trade, commerce, industry, or employment opportunities in this state; or
      3. Any real or personal property to be used by a charitable corporation, association, or similar entity which will further the development of trade, commerce, industry, or employment opportunities in this state;
   6. The acquisition, construction, equipping, improvement, modification, or expansion of any property, real or personal, for use by an enterprise;
   7. The acquisition, construction, installation, modification, renovation, or rehabilitation of land, interest in land, buildings, structures, facilities, or other improvements and the acquisition, installation, modification, renovation, 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 the development of trade, commerce, industry, and employment opportunities. A project may be for any industrial, commercial, business, office, parking, public, or other use, provided that a majority of the members of the authority determines, by a duly adopted resolution, that the project and such uses thereof would further the public purpose of this chapter; and
   8. The acquisition, construction, improvement, or modification of any property, real or personal, used to provide or used in connection with the provision of broadband services which the authority has determined as necessary for the operation of the industries which such property, real or personal, is to serve and which is necessary for the public welfare, provided that, for the purposes of this subparagraph, the term "broadband services" shall have the same meaning as provided in Code Section 50-40-1.

(Code 1981, §50-34-2, enacted by Ga. L. 2000, p. 582, § 1; Ga. L. 2006, p. 72, § 50/SB 465; Ga. L. 2018, p. 629, § 5-1/SB 402.)

The 2018 amendment, effective May 7, 2018, substituted "connections for utility services, and infrastructure and connections for broadband services as such term is defined in Code Section 50-39-1" for "and connections for utility services" in the middle of subparagraph (4)(B); deleted "and" at the end of subparagraph (9)(F); substituted "; and" for a period at the end of subparagraph (9)(G); and added subparagraph (9)(H).