N.Y. Public Authorities Law § 3002: Legislative findings and statement of purposes

§ 3002. Legislative findings and statement of purposes. It is hereby

found and declared that, by reason of the severe economic and social

dislocations of recent years, there has been a great increase in the

need and demand for public services at a time when financing such

services has become increasingly difficult, and that, due to a general

decline in investor acceptance of local government securities and to

almost unprecedented interest rates, a number of municipalities in this

state have, despite the financial soundness of their obligations,

recently faced increased difficulty in selling a sufficient amount of

their securities to enable them to refund their outstanding obligations

or to meet their cash requirements. For the immediate future, this

increased difficulty has caused concern that such municipalities may be

unable to provide, without interruption, many services essential to

their inhabitants while also meeting their obligations to the holders of

their outstanding securities as they come due. It is in the public

interest and is the policy of this state to assist municipalities

attempting to provide, without interruption, services essential to their

inhabitants while meeting their obligations to the holders of their

outstanding securities. The impairment of the credit of the

municipalities within the state may affect the ability of the state to

issue its own obligations at normal interest rates. Such effect is a

matter of state concern. It is further declared that the state should

exercise its power in the interest of such municipalities and should

implement such policy by authorizing on behalf of each municipality

which is found by the legislature to require the state's assistance and

which expressly requests such assistance, the creation of a state

instrumentality to be a body corporate and politic, having full powers

to borrow money and to issue its bonds and notes for the purpose of

providing to that municipality assistance sufficient to enable it to

avoid the interruption of services essential to its inhabitants while

meeting its obligations to the holders of its outstanding securities. It

is further declared to be in the public interest and is the policy of

this state that each such instrumentality shall provide financial

assistance to a municipality only if that municipality agrees to make

and observe such changes in its record keeping, accounting, budgeting

and financial management practices as that instrumentality may be

authorized, by the special law creating it, to require as a condition of

providing financial assistance.