AMENDMENT 246 RATIFIED

Refunding of Securities by Certain Municipalities in Marion County.

Any provision of the Constitution or the laws of the state of Alabama to the contrary notwithstanding, any municipality in Marion county, Alabama, that has heretofore issued, or that may hereafter issue, interest-bearing bonds, warrants, notes or other securities pursuant to the provisions of that certain amendment to the Constitution of Alabama that was proposed by Act No. 1 [amendment No. 84] enacted at the 1950 second special session of the legislature of Alabama (herein called "the 1950 amendment"), shall have full and continuing power and authority to do any one or more of the following:

(1) To refund, or provide for the refunding of, any bonds, warrants, notes or other securities issued by it pursuant to the provisions of the 1950 amendment or pursuant to the provisions hereof (whether before, at or after the maturity of the securities being so refunded and whether or not all or any part of such securities are then subject to redemption) by the sale and issuance of refunding bonds, warrants, notes or other securities in a principal amount not in excess of the principal amount of securities being refunded plus any premium necessary to redeem or retire the securities being refunded and any interest accrued on, or to accrue to the date of payment or redemption of, such securities;

(2) In the event any of the securities being so refunded cannot, by their terms, be redeemed or otherwise retired simultaneously with the issuance of the refunding securities, to invest, until the earliest date on which such redemption or retirement can be effected, such portion of the principal proceeds from the sale of such refunding securities as may not then be used for redemption or retirement of the refunded securities, in any investments in which municipal sinking funds are authorized to be invested by the provisions of section 265 of Title 37 of the Code of Alabama of 1940, as it exists at the time of the adoption of this amendment;

(3) To issue bonds, warrants, notes or other securities for the combined purpose of so refunding any such securities and of acquiring, constructing, extending or improving any one or more industrial or manufacturing plants or properties within the corporate limits or the police jurisdiction of such municipality, in which case the provisions of the preceding subdivisions (1) and (2) of this amendment shall apply to those of such bonds, warrants, notes or other securities that are being issued for refunding purposes;

(4) To pledge for payment of any securities issued by it pursuant to the provisions hereof not only any taxes and revenues authorized to be pledged for securities authorized to be issued pursuant to the provisions of the 1950 amendment, but also any other taxes or revenues that such municipality is authorized by law to pledge for payment of its general obligation bonds;

(5) To mortgage, as security for payment of any securities issued by it hereunder, (a) any industrial or manufacturing plants and properties acquired, constructed, extended or improved, in whole or in part, out of the proceeds from the sale of any securities being refunded, in whole or in part, by such securities, and (b) any industrial or manufacturing plants and properties to be acquired, constructed, extended or improved, in whole or in part, out of the proceeds from the sale of such securities; and to pledge for payment of any such securities the revenues and receipts to be derived from the leasing or sale of any such plants and properties; and

(6) In connection with the issuance of any securities by it hereunder, to reserve the right to issue additional such securities hereunder, on a parity with the securities then being issued, on such terms and conditions as shall be specified in the proceedings of its governing body or other documents under which such securities are being issued.

Any securities issued by a municipality pursuant to the provisions of this amendment may be issued on the full faith and credit of such municipality or may be limited as to the source of their payment, all as the governing body of such municipality may determine. Any securities so issued, in whole or in part, for refunding purposes hereunder may be in the form of bonds, warrants, notes or other securities, irrespective of whether the securities being refunded thereby consist of bonds, warrants, notes or other securities or any combination thereof, and may be limited as to the source of their payment, as aforesaid, even though the securities being refunded thereby were issued on the full faith and credit of such municipality. Any securities issued by a municipality pursuant to the provisions hereof that are payable, as to both principal and interest, solely out of revenues and receipts to be derived from the leasing or sale of one or more industrial or manufacturing plants or properties owned by it shall not be considered indebtedness of such municipality for the purpose of determining its borrowing capacity under section 225 of the Constitution or under the 1950 amendment. No municipality in Marion county, Alabama, shall issue any securities pursuant to the provisions of the 1950 amendment or of this amendment, other than securities that are payable (as to both principal and interest) solely out of revenues to be derived from the leasing or sale of one or more industrial or manufacturing plants or properties owned by it, unless the principal amount of such securities, when added to the aggregate of the principal amount of any other securities of such municipality then outstanding hereunder or the 1950 amendment, does not exceed fifty percent of the assessed value of the taxable property therein, as determined for state taxation; provided however, that securities for the payment of the principal of and the interest on which an irrevocable trust fund consisting of cash or securities that are direct general obligations of the United States of America, or both, has been established shall not, for the purposes of this amendment or the 1950 amendment, be considered as outstanding to the extent that the retirement thereof shall be provided by said fund (including the cash therein and all sums due to be paid by the United States of America under the terms of any such United States securities that form a part of said trust fund).

No municipality shall exercise any power and authority hereunder unless the question of whether such municipality shall have the full and continuing power to exercise all the powers and authority referred to herein shall have first been submitted to a vote of the qualified electors of said municipality at an election to be called for that purpose by the governing body of said municipality and the full and continuing exercise of said powers and authority shall have been authorized by a majority of said qualified electors voting at said election. Each election provided for herein shall be called, held, conducted and canvassed, and may be contested, in the manner provided by law for the calling, holding, conducting, canvassing and contesting of municipal bond elections; provided however, that if a majority of the qualified electors in any municipality in Marion county participating in the election on the adoption of this amendment shall vote for the adoption hereof, then the approval of this amendment expressed by the vote in said municipality in favor of its adoption shall of itself authorize the full and continuing exercise by such municipality of all the powers and authorities granted hereunder and in that event no additional election by the electors of said municipality shall be required to authorize the exercise of such powers.