Section 36-41-8. Issuance of revenue bonds; use and commitment of funds; form and contents of bonds; execution; sale; temporary bonds; refunding bonds; trust indenture; validation of bonds; bonds as authorized investments

   (a) Each authority shall have the power and is authorized, at one time or from time to time, to issue its revenue bonds in such principal amounts as, in the opinion of the authority, shall be necessary to provide sufficient funds for achieving the corporate purposes thereof, including the making and purchasing of loans for the acquisition, financing, construction, and rehabilitation of residential housing as provided in this chapter; the payment of interest on bonds of the authority; the establishment of reserves to secure such bonds; and all other expenditures of the authority incident to and necessary or convenient to carry out its corporate purposes and powers.

(b) The authority may retain the services of a qualified, independent financial advisor. The financial advisor shall not in any manner be involved in the underwriting of the revenue bonds or in the origination, sale, or servicing of mortgage loans for residential housing and shall serve only to advise the authority.

(c) The bonds of each issue shall be dated; shall bear interest at such rate or rates as shall be set by the authority (which may include the use of any formula or market-pricing mechanism determined by the authority to be reasonable), without limitation by any existing law of the state, payable at such times as the authority may determine; shall mature at such time or times as the authority may determine; shall be payable in such medium of payment as to both principal and interest as may be determined by the authority; and, at the option of the authority, may be made redeemable before maturity or exchangeable for other bonds of the same series at such price or prices and under such terms and conditions as may be fixed by the authority in the resolution or financing documents providing for the issuance of such bonds or both redeemable and exchangeable. The bonds may be issued as serial bonds or as term bonds with or without mandatory sinking fund provisions or as a combination thereof.

(d) The authority shall determine the form of the bonds, including any interest or principal coupons to be attached thereto, and shall fix the denomination or denominations of the bonds and the place or places of payment of principal and interest thereof, which may be at any bank or trust company inside or outside the state.

(e) All such bonds shall be executed in the name of the authority by the chairman or vice-chairman and secretary-treasurer of the authority and shall be sealed with the official seal of the authority or a facsimile thereof. Coupons shall be executed in the name of the authority by the chairman or vice-chairman of the authority. The facsimile signature of both the chairman or vice-chairman and the secretary-treasurer of the authority may be imprinted in lieu of the manual signatures if the authority so directs, and the facsimile of the chairman's or vice-chairman's signature shall be used on such coupons. Bonds and interest coupons appurtenant thereto bearing the manual or facsimile signature of a person in office at the time such signature was signed or imprinted shall be fully valid notwithstanding the fact that before or after the delivery thereof such person ceased to hold such office. In addition to the foregoing, the bonds shall bear the manual or facsimile signature of the clerk of the superior court of each county wherein is located a municipality activating an authority.

(f) The bonds may be issued in coupon or in registered form, or both, as the authority may determine, and provision may be made for the registration of any coupon bond as to principal alone and also as to both principal and interest. The authority may sell such bonds at public or private sale in such manner and for such price as it may determine to be for the best interest of the authority.

(g) Prior to the preparation of definitive bonds, the authority may issue interim receipts, interim certificates, or temporary bonds exchangeable for definitive bonds upon the issuance of the latter. The authority may also provide for the replacement of any bond which shall become mutilated or be destroyed or lost. Such revenue bonds may be issued without any other proceedings or the happening of any other conditions or things than those proceedings, conditions, and things which are specified or required by this chapter.

(h) Each authority is authorized to provide by resolution for the issue of refunding bonds of the authority for the purpose of refunding any bonds issued under this chapter and then outstanding, together with accrued interest thereon. The issuance of such refunding bonds, the maturities and all other details thereof, the rights of the holders thereof, and the duties of the authority in respect to the same shall be governed by this chapter insofar as the same may be applicable.

(i) If the authority so determines, the bonds may be issued pursuant to a trust indenture between the authority and a trustee, which trust indenture shall have such terms and provisions as may be determined by the authority.

(j) Except as provided in this Code section, all revenue bonds issued by the authority under this chapter shall be executed, confirmed, and validated under, and in accordance with, Article 3 of Chapter 82 of this title, except that, in lieu of specifying the maturities or the rate or rates of interest which revenue bonds to be issued by an authority are to bear, the petition and complaint filed in the validation proceeding may state that the bonds, when issued, will mature no later than 40 years from their issuance and bear interest at a rate not exceeding a maximum per annum rate of interest specified in such notices or that, in the event that bonds are to bear different rates of interest for different maturity dates, none of such rates will exceed the maximum rate specified in the notices; provided, however, that nothing contained in this subsection shall be construed as prohibiting or restricting the right of the authority to sell such bonds at a discount, even if in so doing the effective interest cost resulting therefrom would exceed the maximum per annum interest rate specified in such notices.

(k) In the event that no appeal is filed within the time prescribed by law or, if an appeal is filed, that the judgment is affirmed on appeal, the judgment of the superior court so confirming and validating the issuance of the bonds and the security therefor shall be forever conclusive upon the validity of the bonds and the security therefor against the authority and all other persons.

(l) The bonds are made securities in which all public officers and bodies of the state and all municipalities; all insurance companies and associations and other persons carrying on an insurance business; all banks, bankers, trust companies, savings banks, and savings associations, including savings and loan associations, building and loan associations, investment companies, and other persons carrying on a banking business; all administrators, guardians, executors, trustees, and other fiduciaries, and all other persons whatsoever who are now or may hereafter be authorized to invest in bonds or other obligations of the state may properly and legally invest funds, including capital in their control or belonging to them. The bonds are also made securities which may be deposited with and shall be received by all public officers and bodies of the state and all municipalities for any purposes of which the deposit of the bonds or other obligations of the state is now or may hereafter be authorized.

Ga. L. 1979, p. 4662, § 8; Ga. L. 1980, p. 556, §§ 9, 10; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 36; Ga. L. 1985, p. 391, § 7; Ga. L. 1986, p. 10, § 36; Ga. L. 1986, p. 947, § 5; Ga. L. 1987, p. 3, § 36; Ga. L. 1987, p. 150, § 8.