§ 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.