CHAPTER 503
PROVIDING FOR HARD SURFACING DIRT ROADS
AN ACT DIRECTING THE STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE TO HARD SURFACE ALL THE DIRT ROADS IN THE STATE AND AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF BONDS TO FINANCE THE COST THEREOF.
WHEREAS, there exist about two thousand (2,000) miles of dirt roads in the State of Delaware under the jurisdiction of the State Highway Department, and
WHEREAS, recently there has been a tremendous increase in the number of automobiles and trucks using said highways, and
WHEREAS, the convenience of the traveling public of the State of Delaware requires that these roads be hard surfaced, and
WHEREAS, such a program would require approximately Ten Million Dollars ($10,000,000), and
WHEREAS, the financing of said program of hard surfacing said highways would require the issuance of bonds, and
WHEREAS, it is deemed advisable that the execution of this program should be spread over a period of ten years ; NOW, THEREFORE,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware (three-fourths of all the Members elected to each House concurring therein):
Section 1. The State Highway Department of the State of Delaware is directed to hard surface or surface treat with bituminous material a minimum of eighteen feet in width with adequate drainage, all the dirt roads in the State of Delaware under its jurisdiction within the time limit and according to the schedule outlined in Section 2 of this Act.
Section 2. In carrying out the purposes of Section 1 of this Act the State Highway Department of the State of Delaware shall in each year hard surface in each County one-tenth of the dirt roads now existing in each County under its jurisdiction to the intent and purpose that all the dirt highways under its jurisdiction shall be hard surfaced at the end of ten years from the effective date of this Act. The most traveled roads shall be given priority. Any roads which the State Highway Department considers obsolete shall not be hard surfaced under the provisions of this Act.
Section 3. The Governor, Secretary of State, and State Treasurer of the State of Delaware, herein sometimes referred to as the "Issuing Officers," are hereby authorized, fully empowered and directed to borrow upon the faith and credit of the State of Delaware a sum of money not in excess of Ten Million Dollars ($10,000,000), which shall be used for the purpose of hard surfacing all the dirt roads in the State of Delaware under the jurisdiction of the State Highway Department of the State of Delaware as provided in Section 1 of this Act ; and the said "Issuing Officers" are hereby authorized, fully empowered and directed to sell, execute and deliver bonds in conformity with the provisions of this Act to an amount in the aggregate not to exceed the said sum of Ten Million Dollars ($10,000,000). The said bonds shall be issued, from time to time, in such series and amounts as the "Issuing Officers" shall determine to be required, subject to the provisions contained in Section 2 of this Act over a period of ten years. Said sum of money may be borrowed and said bonds may be issued in addition to any sums authorized to be borrowed or bonds authorized to be issued for the purposes hereinbefore described by any other law now in effect.
Section 4. The said bonds issued in accordance with the provisions of this Act shall be direct general obligations of the State, and the public faith and credit of the State of Delaware are hereby expressly pledged for the full and complete payment of the principal of and interest on the bonds hereby authorized to be issued and the coupons thereto attached, and the said bonds shall be exempt from taxation by the State or any political subdivisions thereof for any purpose.
Section 5. The said bonds shall recite that they are issued for the purposes set forth in Section 1 of this Act, that they are issued in pursuance of this Act and the Constitution of this State, and upon the sale and delivery of any such bond, such recitals shall be conclusive upon the State of Delaware and all and every other person whatsoever of the right, power and authority for the issuance of said bonds and the legality and validity of such bonds and of the principal debt and interest represented thereby, and the legality and validity of such bonds thereafter shall never be questioned in any court of law or equity by the State of Delaware or any person or persons for its use or in its behalf, and this provision shall be and become part of the contract and obligation represented by any such bond or bonds.
Section 6. The bonds issued under the authority of this Act shall be in denominations of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000), or multiple thereof, as shall be decided by the "Issuing Officers", or the majority of them, with coupons thereto attached for each half year's interest thereon. The said bonds shall be numbered consecutively, and shall bear such date as the "Issuing Officers" shall fix and shall bear interest at such rate as shall be determined by the bid accepted by the "Issuing Officers", which interest shall be payable semi-annually in each year that such bonds remain unpaid, at the Farmers' Bank of the State of Delaware, at Dover, upon presentation of a coupon representing such semiannual interest.
Such bonds may provide for such privileges of registration, conversion, reconversion, redemption, exchange and shall mature as the "Issuing Officers" may determine ; provided, however that the principal amount of said bonds, or any series thereof, shall be made to mature fully within twenty (20) years from the date of the issue thereof.
The said bonds shall be executed on behalf of the State of Delaware by the Governor, the Secretary of State and the State Treasurer and shall have the impression of the Great Seal of the State thereon. The facsimile signatures of the Governor and the Secretary of State may be engraved or printed on such bonds, but the signature of the State Treasurer shall be in his own proper handwriting.
Attached interest coupons shall bear the signature of the State Treasurer which may be engraved, printed or written on such coupons. The coupons attached to each bond shall bear the same number as the bond of which they are attached.
The said bonds, with the coupons attached, may be issued notwithstanding that any of the officers executing them in the manner herein provided shall have ceased to hold office at the time of such issue or at the time of the delivery of the said bonds.
Section 7. For the purpose of designation and identification, any bond issued under the authority of this Act shall be known and styled "State Highway Hard Surfacing Bond of 1955."
Section 8. The said bonds, as well as the interest coupons thereto attached, shall be issued in such form or forms as the "Issuing Officers" may adopt.
It shall be the duty of the State Treasurer to provide a record of the proper size and form to be retained in his office, in which he shall keep a record of all bonds which shall be paid and redeemed according to the number thereof, and in addition thereto he shall cause any such bond to be cancelled by making lines with red ink through the signatures of the Governor, Secretary of the State and State Treasurer, and also by writing across the face thereof in red ink the following:
"This bond paid and redeemed this day of
As the said coupons are paid, it shall be the duty of the State Treasurer to mark the same in red ink across the face "Paid". All bonds paid and redeemed, as well as all coupons paid and cancelled as aforesaid, shall be safely kept by the State Treasurer so long as any bond authorized by this Act is unpaid and not redeemed.
Section 9. Whenever the bonds authorized by this Act may be issued in conformity with the provisions of this Act, the "Issuing Officers" are hereby directed to advertise that they will receive bids at such place or places that may be named in said advertisement for such bonds under such regulations as may be made in the discretion of the "Issuing Officers". Sufficient notice of sale of said bonds shall be deemed to have been given if said notice shall have been published at least once ten or more days before the date of sale in at least one newspaper published in the State of Delaware and in a financial journal published in the City of New York, and no other publication of such notice of sale shall be necessary; and said bonds may be sold upon such terms and conditions as may be set forth in such notice of sale, provided that the purchase price shall be not less than par and accrued interest. If any of said bonds so offered for sale are not bid for, or if any insufficient price be bid for them, they may be subsequently disposed of under the direction of the "Issuing Officers" at private sale upon the best terms they can obtain for the same, provided that they shall not be sold at private sale for less than par and accrued interest.
Section 10. Any money received from the sale of said bonds, or any series thereof, issued under the provisions of this Act, shall be deposited by the State Treasurer in the Farmers' Bank of the State of Delaware, at Dover, and shall be used exclusively for the purposes set forth in this Act and for the purpose of paying the costs and expenses incident to the issuance of said bonds.
In addition to any monies appropriated by any other Act, there is hereby appropriated to the State Highway Department of the State of Delaware the sum of Ten Million Dollars ($10,000,000), or so much thereof as shall be received from the sale of the bonds authorized hereby, which shall be used for the purposes set forth herein, and the State Treasurer is hereby authorized and directed to disburse the said monies upon warrants signed by the Chairman and the Secretary or the Chief Engineer of the State Highway Department, stating the use of the monies for which such warrant calls, which use shall be for the purposes set forth in this Act. Any of said funds remaining unexpended at the end of any fiscal year shall not revert
to the use or purposes of any other funds of the State, but shall remain in said account to be used exclusively for the purposes set forth in this Act.
Section 11. The General Assembly shall appropriate funds sufficient to provide for the payment of interest and principal maturities of said bonds from the date of issue to the end of the ensuing biennium on June 30, 1957, and the Budget Appropriation Bill which shall be enacted and approved by the General Assembly at the 119th Session and at each and every subsequent biennial Session thereof, shall contain under the Debt Service Item provisions for the payment of interest and principal maturities of said bonds issued under the authority of this Act, and such of the revenues of the State of Delaware as are not prohibited by constitutional provision or committed by preceding statutes for other purposes are hereby pledged for the redemption and cancellation of said bonds and payment of interest thereon.