32:13A-14. Contract for construction, operation and maintenance; financing; joint exercise of powers; tolls; default; ultimate ownership by New Jersey and Pennsylvania; exemption from taxation

Notwithstanding any of the other provisions of this act or of any act supplemental thereto, the commission may contract with any county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or with any authority or other public corporation organized by such county, each thereof being herein sometimes termed a public authority, to provide for the construction, operation and maintenance of the tunnel by the commission or jointly by the commission and such public authority or by the commission with the approval of such public authority, to the extent provided by such contract. Such contract may also provide for the financing of such tunnel by the issuance of revenue bonds of the commission under the provisions of this act or by such public authority, or by the commission and authority jointly, such bonds to be payable solely from the revenues of such tunnel, and for the pledging of the revenues of such tunnel as security for such bonds, and for the execution of a trust indenture in accordance with the provisions of this act or with the provisions of the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in case such bonds shall be issued by such public authority, which trust indenture may among other things express the terms of such pledge and of the pledge of the proceeds of the bonds and may define the rights and remedies of the bondholders and of the trustee. The commission and any such public authority entering into such contract may jointly exercise in Pennsylvania, to the extent permitted by the laws thereof and by such contract, any and all powers with respect to the construction, operation and maintenance of such tunnel conferred upon such public authority by the laws of Pennsylvania, and may jointly exercise in Pennsylvania any and all powers with respect to the acquisition of franchises, permits and other rights and real and personal property, conferred upon such public authority by the laws of Pennsylvania, and any such public authority entering into such contract may exercise in the State of New Jersey, but only jointly with the commission or with the approval of the commission, to the extent provided by such contract, any and all powers with respect to the construction, operation and maintenance of such tunnel and with respect to the acquisition therefor of franchises, permits and other rights and real and personal property, which are conferred upon the commission under the provisions of this act; provided, however , that the right of eminent domain may be exercised in the State of New Jersey only by the commission.

In the event that any permit granted under the terms of chapter fifty-five of the laws of one thousand nine hundred and thirty-four or chapter eighteen of Title 48 of the Revised Statutes for the incorporation of tunnel companies shall be assigned to the commission or jointly to the commission and any such public authority, the provisions of said chapter fifty-five of the laws of one thousand nine hundred and thirty-four or chapter eighteen of Title 48 of the Revised Statutes shall not thereafter apply to the commission or to the commission and such public authority.

So long as there shall be no default in the performance of any covenant, condition, agreement or provision contained in such bonds or in the resolution or indenture under which such bonds may be issued or in such contract, tolls for transit through such tunnel and other charges for the use thereof shall be fixed jointly by the commission and by such public authority in accordance with the provisions of this act or with the provisions of the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in case such bonds shall be issued by such public authority. But in the event of any such default and during the continuance thereof, the fixing of such tolls and other charges shall be governed by the provisions of this act or by the provisions of the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in case such bonds shall be issued solely by such public authority, and by the provisions of the resolution or the trust indenture under which such bonds may be issued. The commission or such public authority issuing such bonds may pledge such tolls and other charges to the payment of such bonds and the interest thereon subject to provision for payment of the cost of maintaining, repairing and operating such tunnel and the bondholders and the trustee, if any, shall have a first lien on all revenues so pledged in accordance with the terms of the resolution or indenture under which such bonds are issued and such pledge is made and such tolls and other charges shall at all times be so fixed and adjusted as to provide a sinking fund sufficient to pay such bonds and the interest thereon and to provide an additional fund to pay the cost of maintaining, repairing and operating such tunnel, and such tolls may be continued until and only until such bonds and any bonds issued to refund the same, and the interest thereon, and all claims outstanding against the commission or such public authority with respect to such tunnel, shall have been paid, and thereupon such tunnel and its appurtenances shall vest jointly in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey.

Any such tunnel and all property acquired or used for the purposes thereof in the State of New Jersey and the revenues thereof shall at all times be free from taxation within the State of New Jersey.

Amended by L.1939, c. 84, p. 163, s. 1; L.1939, c. 158, p. 500, s. 1.