(1) The critical needs fund is hereby created in the state treasury. The fund shall consist of moneys appropriated to the fund by the general assembly and all interest and income earned on the deposit and investment of moneys in the fund. The board or the executive director may expend moneys in the fund only to make payments of principal and interest on notes issued pursuant to section 24-115-110, to make transfers to any fund or account established for the payment of the principal or interest on any of the notes by the certificate, trust indenture, or other instrument authorizing the notes on the dates and in the amounts required by the certificate, trust indenture, or other instrument, to pay the reasonable administrative and issuance costs incurred by the issuing authority in connection with the notes, to pay the principal and interest on and any costs incurred by the corporation in connection with a borrowing pursuant to section 24-115-107 (1)(f) or note anticipation notes issued pursuant to section 24-115-107 (1)(g), to pay necessary expenses of the board as authorized by section 24-115-106 (3), and, to the extent that the amount of moneys in the fund or to be credited to the fund in any state fiscal year exceeds the amount needed for those purposes during the state fiscal year only, to directly pay the costs of transportation projects. Moneys in the fund at the end of any state fiscal year shall not be transferred to the general fund of the state. It is the intent of the general assembly to appropriate moneys from the general fund or other legally available sources to the fund in amounts sufficient to allow the issuing authorities to make all payments of principal and interest on notes issued pursuant to section 24-115-110, to pay the reasonable administrative and issuance costs incurred by the issuing authorities in connection with the notes, to pay the principal and interest on and any costs incurred by the corporation in connection with a borrowing pursuant to section 24-115-107 (1)(f) or note anticipation notes issued pursuant to section 24-115-107 (1)(g), to pay necessary expenses of the board as authorized by section 24-115-106 (3), and to ensure that the total amount of moneys in the fund available for expenditure by the department for all purposes for which the department may expend moneys from the fund is thirty million dollars in state fiscal year 2005-06, seventy million dollars in state fiscal year 2006-07, and one hundred million dollars in each subsequent state fiscal year.

(2) The intention of the general assembly to make appropriations to the critical needs fund as specified in subsection (1) of this section shall not be construed to be binding on any future general assembly, and such appropriations are subject to annual appropriation by the general assembly. Every contract entered into by an issuing authority that relates to the issuance or administration of notes issued pursuant to section 24-115-110 and imposes an obligation that is to be paid from the fund shall state that the financial obligations of the issuing authority or the state under the contract are subject to annual appropriations to the fund by the general assembly, in its sole discretion, in accordance with this section and that the contract shall not be deemed to create any indebtedness of the state within the meaning of the state constitution or the laws of the state concerning or limiting the creation of indebtedness by the state. A decision by the general assembly not to appropriate moneys to the fund shall not be construed as an action impairing any such contract.

(3) General fund appropriations made pursuant to this section are not subject to the limitation on state general fund appropriations set forth in section 24-75-201.1 because approval of a ballot issue that authorizes the issuance of notes and provides for the payment of notes by voters of the state constitutes voter approval for the exemption of those appropriations from that limitation.