§ 1285-o. Pipeline for jobs fund. The corporation shall undertake to
provide financial assistance to recipients to encourage and support the
planning, design and construction of eligible projects which provide an
economic development benefit to the state.

1. There is hereby established in the custody of the corporation a
"pipeline for jobs fund". The purpose of the pipeline for jobs fund
shall be to provide financial assistance, as determined by the
corporation in consultation with the department of economic development,
to recipients for the planning, design and construction of eligible
projects.

2. For purposes of this section, and notwithstanding any provision of
law to the contrary, as used in this section:

(a) "Construction" means the erection, building, acquisition,
alteration, reconstruction, improvement, enlargement or extension of an
eligible project; the inspection and supervision thereof; and the
engineering, architectural, legal, fiscal, and economic investigations
and studies, surveys, designs, plans, working drawings, specifications,
procedures, and other actions necessary thereto.

(b) "Eligible municipality" means any county, city, town or village
located within the state.

(c) "Eligible project" means a project intended to create, improve or
extend water supply facilities, including, but not limited to, drinking
water facilities and cold water supply facilities for economic
development purposes on behalf of businesses, which may include projects
that may be eligible for financing under or designed to comply with the
requirements of the federal safe drinking water act or other applicable
federal laws and state drinking water quality goals and standards.

(d) "Financial assistance" means state assistance payments for the
state share of the cost of an eligible project, or any one or more of
the following types of financial assistance:

(i) loans to recipients for construction of eligible projects on such
terms as the corporation may determine, subject to any applicable
provisions of federal or state law;

(ii) buying or refinancing debt obligations of recipients at market or
below market rates, subject to any applicable provisions of federal or
state law;

(iii) guarantying, or purchasing insurance or other credit enhancement
for municipal obligations where such action would improve credit market
access for or reduce interest rates on such municipal obligations;

(iv) providing a source of revenue or security for payment of
principal and interest on bonds or notes issued by the corporation if
the proceeds of the sale of such bonds or notes will be deposited in the
fund; and

(v) providing interest rate subsidies from investment earnings on
corpus allocations to subsidize loans to recipients made from the
proceeds of the corporation's bonds or notes.

(e) "Fund" means the pipeline for jobs fund established by this
section.

(f) "Recipient" means any eligible municipality, public utility,
public benefit corporation, or person, including any individual, firm,
partnership, association, not-for-profit corporation or other
corporation organized and existing under the laws of the state or any
other state which is empowered to construct and operate an eligible
project, or any two or more of the foregoing which are acting jointly in
connection with an eligible project.

3. Moneys in the fund shall be segregated from all other funds of or
in the custody of the corporation. Moneys in the fund shall be used for
any authorized purpose of the fund as provided and in accordance with
the provisions of this section.

4. The fund shall consist of:

(a) moneys appropriated by the legislature pursuant to a chapter of
the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-nine, or any reappropriation
thereof, for the purpose of such fund or otherwise transferred by the
state for deposit therein by the comptroller as required by law;

(b) payments of principal and interest made by recipients pursuant to
loan or other financing agreements entered into pursuant to this
section; provided, however, if financial assistance made pursuant to
financing agreements is financed by the issuance of bonds or notes of
the corporation, deposit of such payments into the fund shall be subject
to the rights of the holders of such bonds or notes to receive such
moneys;

(c) investment earnings on the amounts in such fund; and

(d) the proceeds of bonds or notes issued by the corporation for
purposes of providing financial assistance to recipients.

5. Moneys in the fund may be invested by the corporation in accordance
with this title and pursuant to guidelines from time to time issued by
the corporation.

6. The corporation shall request applications from recipients to
receive financial assistance from the fund for eligible projects. The
corporation shall provide a list of the eligible projects and the
amounts available for financial assistance to the department of economic
development, which department shall recommend to the corporation
projects to be financed from the moneys available. In making such
recommendations, the department of economic development shall give
consideration to eligible projects which have the potential to enhance
the state's technology industry development efforts.

7. The corporation shall promulgate regulations, developed in
consultation with the commissioner of economic development, the
commissioner of environmental conservation and the commissioner of
health for the purpose of carrying out its responsibilities under this
section, including establishing the criteria and standards for
evaluating the projects to be financed and determining the amount and
kind of financial assistance to a recipient for an eligible project as
well as the terms of any financing agreement evidencing such financial
assistance.

8. The provisions of subdivision eleven of section twelve hundred
eighty-five-m of this title shall be available to the corporation in the
event of a default under any financing agreement entered into by an
eligible municipality pursuant to this section.

9. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to
the contrary, the corporation and the director of the budget are hereby
authorized to enter into a pipeline for jobs fund service contract or
contracts providing for the administration of the pipeline for jobs fund
and the financing by such corporation of the contributions made by the
state to the pipeline for jobs fund. Any such contract or contracts
shall be upon such terms and conditions as the corporation and the
director of the budget shall determine to be reasonable, including, but
not limited to, provisions relating to the respective obligations of the
state and the corporation with respect to providing for the payment of
(i) all fees and other charges of, and expenses incurred by, the
corporation in connection with the issuance and administration of bonds
to provide funds to the state or reimburse the state for contributions
to the pipeline for jobs fund and (ii) all debt service payments and
related expenses on such bonds.

(b) Any such contract entered into pursuant to paragraph (a) of this
subdivision shall provide that the obligation of the state to fund or to
pay the amounts therein provided for shall not constitute a debt of the
state within the meaning of any constitutional or statutory provision
and shall be deemed executory only to the extent of moneys available
therefore and that no liability shall be incurred by the state beyond
the moneys available for such purpose, and that such obligation is
subject to annual appropriation by the legislature.

(c) Any such contract or any payments made or to be made thereunder
may be assigned and pledged by the corporation as security for its bonds
and notes issued for the purpose of financing the state contribution to
the pipeline for jobs fund.

(d) The comptroller is hereby authorized to receive from the
corporation any portion of bond proceeds paid to provide funds to or
reimburse the state for its contribution to the pipeline for jobs fund
and to credit such amounts to the capital projects fund.