15373.2.

 (a)  In order to carry out this chapter, there is hereby created in the State Treasury the Rural Economic Development Fund.

(b)  The fund shall receive state funds appropriated to it, repayment of loans and interest on those loans pursuant to this chapter, interest which accrues to the moneys in the fund pursuant to subdivision (c), fees or charges pursuant to subdivision (d), and penalties prescribed by the panel.

(c)  (1)  The Treasurer shall invest moneys contained in the fund not needed to meet current obligations in the same manner as other public funds are invested. The moneys resulting from this investment shall be used to support the three rural small business assistance and development centers previously established through the department and the Employment Development Department. The department shall grant these interest moneys to the centers upon request to provide for the continued operation of the centers.

(2)  If sufficient interest moneys are not available at a time when the centers require additional funds, the department shall lend the centers necessary funds from the Rural Economic Development Fund, if the expected interest earnings from the fund will repay the loans. Funds received under this subdivision shall not be considered when the department reviews and approves applications pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 15397.3). Each center shall receive a maximum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) each fiscal year.

(3)  Interest earnings in excess of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) per fiscal year shall be available for expenditure by the department pursuant to this chapter. The expenditures of these interest earnings in excess of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) shall include the costs associated with the provision of ongoing legal counsel to the Infrastructure Review Panel, created pursuant to Article 5 (commencing with Section 15373.6) and reimbursement of expenses incurred by designated panel members while in the conduct of official panel business. The interest earnings in excess of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) may also be used by the department for administrative support and local assistance costs of activities consistent with the purposes of this chapter.

(4)  In addition to centers specified in paragraph (1), centers which are located in a county subject to this chapter may also be funded from interest earnings in an amount not to exceed two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) annually for all additional centers, if there are sufficient funds available after support is provided for the three existing rural centers, and after the funding of other priorities established by this chapter.

(5)  If sufficient interest earnings are available after support is provided to centers specified in paragraphs (1) and (4), and to other priorities established by this chapter, an amount not to exceed seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) annually may be used for support of the California Main Street Program (Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 15399)). Services rendered as a result of this increased support shall be targeted for Main Street Demonstration and Self-Initiated Cities in counties subject to this chapter.

(d)  In order to defray costs to the agency for administration of Article 5 (commencing with Section 15373.6), the agency may impose reasonable charges on all applications, and approved loans. The agency may use these fees or other charges for those costs necessary to protect the state’s position as a lender-creditor. These costs include, but are not limited to, foreclosure expenses, auction fees, title searches, appraisals, real estate brokerage fees, removal and storage for repossessed equipment and inventory, and additional expenditures to purchase a senior lien in foreclosure or bankruptcy proceedings.

(e)  Notwithstanding Section 13340, all moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated to, and shall remain available for expenditure by, the agency for the purposes of this chapter.

(f)  Unless deemed appropriate by the local agency, no money in the fund shall be used in lieu of any existing state infrastructure financing program, including, but not limited to, the State Transportation Improvement Program or the Clean Water Bond Program.

(g)  Proceeds of any bond or other obligation issued pursuant to the authority contained in this chapter may be deposited with a trustee. In the event that security for a bond includes any partially disbursed Rural Economic Development Infrastructure Program loan, the agency shall be authorized to transfer the encumbered funds to the trustee for disbursement.

(h)  Interest earned on any funds collected pursuant to subdivision (g) may be deposited into the Rural Economic Development Fund and expended for support or loans in an amount not to exceed two hundred seventy-five thousand dollars ($275,000) in the 1994–95 fiscal year. Funding in subsequent years shall be subject to appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act.

15373.71.

 (a)  The agency may issue its bonds through the panel, from time to time, in the principal amount that the agency determines is necessary to provide sufficient funds for the purposes specified in this article and for establishment of reserves to secure the bonds and other expenditures of the agency incident to, and necessary or convenient to, issuance of the bonds.

(b)  The aggregate principal amount of bonds that may be outstanding at any time pursuant to this section shall not exceed the aggregate principal amount of obligations outstanding pursuant to this article exclusive of bonds issued to refund previously issued bonds of the agency.

(c)  Every issue of bonds shall be revenue obligations of the agency payable only out of moneys in the fund, or held pursuant to a trust agreement, subject only to any agreements with the holders of particular bonds pledging any particular assets, revenues, or moneys.

(d)  Any bonds issued under this article may be secured by a trust agreement, indenture, or resolution by and between the agency and a trustee, which shall be a bank or trust company chartered under the laws of this state or of the United States.

(e)  The bonds shall be authorized by resolution or resolutions of the panel, shall be in the form, shall bear date or dates, and shall mature at the time or times as the resolution or resolutions may provide, except that no bond shall mature more than 50 years from the date of its issue. The bonds shall bear interest at the rate or rates, be in the denominations, be in the form, be executed in the manner, be payable in the medium of payment at the place or places within or without the state, be subject to the terms of redemption and contain the terms and conditions as the resolution or resolutions may provide. The bonds of the agency shall be sold at public or private sale by the Treasurer at, above, or below the par value, on the terms and conditions and for the consideration as the agency shall determine by resolution prior to the sale.

(f)  Whenever the agency deems that it will increase the salability or the price of the bonds to obtain, prior to or after sale, a legal opinion, other than that of the Attorney General, as to the validity of the bonds, or as to the exclusion of interest on the bonds from gross income for federal income tax purposes, the agency may obtain a legal opinion, including authorizing the Treasurer to obtain a legal opinion. Payment for the legal services may be made out of the proceeds of the sale of the bonds.

(g)  The agency may employ financial consultants, advisers, and accountants as may be necessary in its judgment in connection with the issuance and sale of any bonds of the agency. Payment for these services may be made out of the proceeds of the sale of the bonds.

(h)  Notwithstanding Section 13340, if the bond is payable from a fund, amounts necessary to pay debt service for any bonds or notes issued pursuant to this part are hereby appropriated without regard to fiscal years from the fund.

(i)  Section 10295 and Sections 10335 to 10382, inclusive, of the Public Contract Code shall not apply to agreements entered into by the agency or the Treasurer in connection with the sale of bonds or notes authorized under this part.

(j)  The bonds issued under this article shall be special obligations of the agency secured solely by the revenues received from the loans made pursuant to this article. No bond issued or sold pursuant to this article shall be or become a lien, charge, or liability against the State of California or against its property or funds except to the extent of the pledges expressly made by this article. Every bond issued pursuant to this article shall contain a recital on the face thereof stating that neither the payment of the principal nor any part thereof, nor any interest thereon, constitutes a debt, liability, or general obligation of the State of California other than as provided in this article. The agency has no power at any time or in any manner to pledge the credit or taxing power of the state or any of its local agencies, other than as provided in this article.

(k)  Bonds issued pursuant to this article are a legal investment for any state special or trust fund notwithstanding any provision of law limiting the investments that may be made by the special or trust fund. The bonds of the agency shall be legal investments in which all public officers and public bodies of the state, its political subdivisions, all municipalities and municipal subdivisions, all insurance companies and associations and other persons carrying on an insurance business, all banks, savings and loan associations, savings banks and savings associations, investment companies, all administrators, guardians, executors, trustees and other fiduciaries, and all other persons authorized to invest in bonds or in other obligations of the state, may properly and legally invest funds, including capital, in their control or belonging to them. The bonds may be used as security for public deposits. The bonds are also securities that may properly and legally be deposited with and received by all public officers and bodies of the state or any agency or political subdivision of the state and all municipalities and public corporations for any purpose for which the deposit of bonds or other obligations of the state is authorized by law, including deposits to secured public funds.

( l)  Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, this article provides a complete, separate, additional, and alternative method for the doing of the things authorized by this article, including the authority of local agencies to have borrowed and to borrow in the future in accordance herewith, and is supplemental and additional to powers conferred by other laws.