Syfert Injury Law Firm
Your Trusted Partner in Personal Injury & Workers' Compensation
Call Now: 904-383-7448Your Trusted Partner in Personal Injury & Workers' Compensation
Call Now: 904-383-7448(a) There shall be a Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission. The commission shall consist of the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the State Auditor, the Attorney General, the director, Fiscal Division, Department of Administrative Services, or such other officer as may be designated by law, and the Commissioner of Agriculture. The commission shall be responsible for the issuance of all public debt and for the proper application, as provided by law, of the proceeds of such debt to the purposes for which it is incurred; provided, however, the proceeds from guaranteed revenue obligations shall be paid to the issuer thereof and such proceeds and the application thereof shall be the responsibility of such issuer. Debt to be incurred at the same time for more than one purpose may be combined in one issue without stating the purpose separately but the proceeds thereof must be allocated, disbursed and used solely in accordance with the original purpose and without exceeding the principal amount authorized for each purpose set forth in the authorization of the General Assembly and to the extent not so used shall be used to purchase and retire public debt. The commission shall be responsible for the investment of all proceeds to be administered by it and, as provided by law, the income earned on any such investments may be used to pay operating expenses of the commission or placed in a common debt retirement fund and used to purchase and retire any public debt, or any bonds or obligations issued by any public agency, public corporation or authority which are secured by a contract to which the provisions of the second paragraph of Paragraph I(a) of Section VI, Article IX of the Constitution of 1976 are applicable. The commission shall have such additional responsibilities, powers, and duties as are provided by law.
(b) Notwithstanding subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph, proceeds from general obligation debt issued for making loans to local government entities for water or sewerage facilities or systems or for regional or multijurisdictional solid waste recycling or solid waste facilities or systems as provided in Paragraph I(e) of this section shall be paid or transferred to and administered and invested by the unit of state government or state authority made responsible by law for such activities, and the proceeds and investment earnings thereof shall be applied and disbursed by such unit or authority.
(Ga. Const. 1983, Art. 7, § 4, Para. 7; Ga. L. 1986, p. 1612, § 2/HR 363; Ga. L. 1992, p. 3329, § 3/HR 732.)
- Art. VII, Sec. III, Para. III.
- Generally, § 50-17-20 et seq.
- The constitutional amendment (Ga. L. 1986, p. 1612, § 2) which designated the existing provisions of this Paragraph as subparagraph (a) and which added subparagraph (b) was approved by a majority of the qualified voters voting at the general election held on November 4, 1986.
The constitutional amendment (Ga. L. 1988, p. 2116, § 1) which would have revised subparagraph (a) to remove the Attorney General from the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission was defeated at the general election on November 8, 1988.
The constitutional amendment (Ga. L. 1992, p. 3329, § 3) which revised subparagraph (b) to add provisions as to regional or multijurisdictional solid waste recycling or solid waste facilities or systems was approved by a majority of the qualified voters voting at the general election held on November 3, 1992.
This paragraph was not violated by Ga. L. 1921, p. 230, for discounting the rentals of the W. & A. Railroad. Wright v. Hardwick, 152 Ga. 302, 109 S.E. 903 (1921) (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VII, Sec. IV, Para. VII).
- Under this constitutional method of incurring state debt, if the legislature authorizes the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission to incur debt in a specified amount for a specified purpose and makes the specified appropriation to the "State of Georgia General Obligation Debt Sinking Fund," then the commission created by the Constitution can resolve to incur the authorized debt, have it procedurally validated, deliver evidences of the state debt to the lenders, and receive the proceeds from the lenders; and once the commission created by the Constitution receives the proceeds of the debt incurred from the lenders, then the commission itself is responsible for "the proper application of the proceeds of such debt to the purposes for which it is incurred." Fuller v. State, 232 Ga. 581, 208 S.E.2d 85 (1974).
Cited in Harrison v. Hardman, 169 Ga. 435, 150 S.E. 542 (1929); Carter v. Burson, 230 Ga. 511, 198 S.E.2d 151 (1973).
- There does not appear to be any basis in the Constitution or the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission Act which would authorize the Employment Security Agency, Georgia Department of Labor to borrow or obtain advances from the federal unemployment account in the unemployment trust fund for payment of unemployment compensation. 1982 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 82-35.
Legal ability of board of regents of university system to incur debt by issuing revenue obligations is doubtful. 1988 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 88-21.