2006 Code of Virginia § 15.2-5406 - Rights, powers and duties of authority

15.2-5406. Rights, powers and duties of authority.

An authority shall have all of the rights and powers necessary and convenientto carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this chapter,including, but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the rightsand powers:

1. To adopt bylaws or rules for the regulation of its affairs and the conductof its business;

2. To adopt an official seal and alter the same at pleasure;

3. To maintain an office at such place or places as it may designate;

4. To sue and be sued;

5. To receive, administer and comply with the conditions and requirementsrespecting any gift, grant or donation of any property or money;

6. To study, plan, research, develop, finance, construct, reconstruct,acquire, improve, enlarge, extend, better, lease, own, operate and maintainany project or any interest in any project, within or outside theCommonwealth, including the acquisition of an ownership interest in anyproject as a tenant in common with any other unit or units whether public orprivate, and to enter into and perform contracts with respect thereto, and ifthe authority acquires an ownership interest as a tenant in common in anyproject within the Commonwealth, the surrender or waiver by any such owner ofits right to partition such property for a period not exceeding the periodfor which the property is used or useful for electric utility purposes shallnot be invalid and unenforceable by reason of length of such period or asunduly restricting the alienation of such property;

7. To acquire by private negotiated purchase or lease or otherwise anexisting project, a project under construction, or other property within oroutside the Commonwealth, either individually or jointly with any other unitor units whether public or private; to acquire by private negotiated purchaseor lease or otherwise any facilities for the development, production,manufacture, procurement, handling, transportation, storage, fabrication,enrichment, processing or reprocessing of fuel of any kind or any facility orrights with respect to the supply of water; and to enter into agreements byprivate negotiation or otherwise, for such period as the authority shalldetermine, for the development, production, manufacture, procurement,handling, storage, fabrication, enrichment, processing or reprocessing offuel of any kind or any facility or rights with respect to the supply ofwater;

8. To acquire by purchase, lease, gift, or otherwise, or to obtain optionsfor the acquisition of, any property, real or personal, improved orunimproved, including an interest in land less than the fee thereof;

9. To sell, lease, exchange, transfer or otherwise dispose of, or to grantoptions for any such purposes with respect to, any real or personal propertyor interest therein;

10. To dispose of by private negotiated sale or lease or otherwise anexisting project, a project under construction, or other property ownedeither individually or jointly, and to dispose of by private negotiated saleor lease or otherwise any facilities for the development, production,manufacture, procurement, handling, transportation, storage, fabrication,enrichment, processing or reprocessing of fuel of any kind or any facility orrights with respect to the supply of water;

11. To borrow money and issue revenue bonds of the authority in the mannerhereinafter provided;

12. To accept advice and money from any member governmental unit of theauthority;

13. To apply and contract for and to expend assistance from the United Statesor other public or private sources, whether in form of a grant or loan orotherwise;

14. To fix, charge and collect rents, rates, fees and charges for output orcapacity of any project and for the use of, or for, the other services,facilities and commodities sold, furnished or supplied through any project;

15. To authorize the acquisition, construction, operation or maintenance ofany project by any unit or individual on such terms as the authority shalldeem proper, and, in connection with any project which is owned jointly bythe authority and one or more units, to act as agent, or designate one ormore of the other units to act as agent, for all the owners of the projectfor the construction, operation or maintenance of such project;

16. To generate, produce, transmit, deliver, exchange, purchase or sellelectric power and energy at wholesale or retail, and to enter into contractsfor any or all such purposes;

17. To negotiate and enter into contracts for the purchase, sale, exchange,interchange, wheeling, pooling, transmission or use of electric power andenergy at wholesale or retail with any unit within or outside theCommonwealth;

18. To purchase power and energy and related services from any source onbehalf of its member governmental units and other customers and to sell thesame to its member governmental units and other customers in such amounts,with such characteristics, for such periods of time and under such terms andconditions as the authority shall determine;

19. In the event of any annexation by a governmental unit which is not amember governmental unit of the authority of lands, areas, or territory inwhich the authority's projects exist, to continue to do business and toexercise jurisdiction over its properties and facilities in and upon or oversuch lands, areas or territory as long as any bonds remain outstanding orunpaid, or any contracts or other obligations remain in force;

20. To amend the articles of incorporation with respect to the name or powersof such authority or in any other manner not inconsistent with this chapterby following the procedure prescribed by law for the creation of an authority;

21. To enter into contracts with any unit on such terms as the authorityshall deem proper for the purposes of acting as a billing and collectingagent for electric service or electric service fees, rents or charges imposedby any such unit;

22. To pledge or assign any moneys, fees, rents, charges or other revenuesand any proceeds derived by the authority from the sales of bonds, property,insurance or condemnation awards;

23. To make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary orconvenient in the exercise of the powers and functions of the authority underthis chapter, including contracts with persons, firms, corporations andothers;

24. To apply to the appropriate agencies of the Commonwealth, the UnitedStates or any state thereof, and to any other proper agency for such permits,licenses, certificates or approvals as may be necessary, to construct,maintain and operate projects in accordance with such licenses, permits,certificates or approvals; and to obtain, hold and use such licenses,permits, certificates and approvals in the same manner as any other person oroperating unit;

25. To employ such persons as may be required in the judgment of theauthority and to fix and pay their compensation from funds available to theauthority therefor; and

26. To do all acts and things necessary and convenient to carry out thepurposes and to exercise the powers granted to the authority herein.

In undertaking a project, an authority shall apply to the appropriateagencies of the Commonwealth, the United States, or any state therein, forsuch permits, licenses, certificates, or approvals as may be necessary,including, in any event, those referred to in 56-46.1, 56-234.3, and56-265.2; former 62.1-3; and Chapter 7 ( 62.1-80 et seq.) of Title 62.1 ofthe Code of Virginia. An authority shall construct, maintain and operate suchprojects in accordance with such permits, licenses, certificates andapprovals. The foregoing sentence shall apply to an authority created by agovernmental unit exempt from the referendum requirement of 15.2-5403 onlyto the extent that it would have applied to the governmental unit that is thesole member of such authority if the governmental unit had directlyundertaken the project.

In determining which project or projects to undertake in furtherance of itspurposes and powers under this chapter, an authority shall take into accountestimated future power requirements of member governmental units which haveentered into, or propose to enter into, contracts with the authority for thepurchase of output, capacity, use or services of such project or projects,and in making such determinations the authority shall consider the following:

1. Economies and efficiencies to be achieved in constructing, on a largescale, facilities for the generation and distribution of electric power andenergy;

2. Needs of the authority for reserve and peaking capacity and to meetobligations under pooling and reserve-sharing agreements reasonably relatedto its needs for power and energy to which the authority is or may become aparty;

3. Estimated useful life of such project;

4. Estimated time necessary for the planning, development, acquisition, orconstruction of such project and length of time required in advance toobtain, acquire or construct an additional power supply for the membergovernmental units of the authority; and

5. Reliability and availability of alternative power supply sources and costof such alternative power supply sources.

Nothing herein contained shall prevent an authority from undertaking studiesto determine whether there is a need for a project or whether such project isfeasible.

(1979, c. 416, 15.1-1609; 1997, c. 587; 2006, cc. 929, 941.)