§ 46-12.8-5. Procedure for application, approval, and award of financial assistance. (a) Any local governmental unit or privately organized water supplier may apply to the agency for financial assistance in accordance with this chapter to finance all or any part of the cost of an approved project. The agency shall not award financial assistance to such local government unit or privately organized water supplier hereunder until and unless the department shall have issued a certificate of approval of the project or portion thereof for which such financial assistance has been sought. Notwithstanding the foregoing, for safe drinking water projects funded outside of the drinking water state revolving fund, the Agency may provide financial assistance without the requirement of the issuance of a certificate of approval.

(b) If the department shall determine, in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to this chapter, that an application for financial assistance or portion thereof shall be approved, it shall deliver to the agency a certificate of approval of the project or a portion thereof which shall specify the project or portion thereof eligible for financial assistance and such other terms, conditions and limitations with respect to the construction and operation of the project as the department shall determine. The agency shall specify, among other things, the type and amount of financial assistance to be provided from the safe drinking water revolving loan fund, the amount, if any, of subsidy assistance to be granted, the amount, if any, of other financial assistance permitted by this chapter to be provided, and such other terms, conditions, and limitations on the financial assistance, the expenditure of loan proceeds, and the construction and operation of the project as the agency shall determine or approve.

(c) In addition to the authority provided by law, the department shall be responsible for, and shall have all requisite power to, review and approve reports and plans for safe drinking water projects and approved projects, or any part thereof, for which financial assistance has been applied or granted in accordance with this chapter from the safe drinking water revolving fund, to enter into contracts with local governmental units and private water companies relative to approved projects, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the costs of approved projects eligible for financial assistance, grants, and other terms, conditions and limitations with respect to the construction and operation of the project, and to inspect the construction and operation of approved projects in compliance with approved plans. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, in connection with the exercise of its powers and performance of its duties under this chapter, the department shall have all the powers provided by law to the department and its director. The department shall adopt rules, regulations, procedures, and guidelines to carry out the purposes of this chapter and for the proper administration of its powers and duties under this chapter. The rules, regulations, procedures, and guidelines shall include among other things, criteria for determining those safe drinking water projects, to be approved for financial assistance from the safe drinking water revolving fund and specification of eligible costs of the projects. In order to provide for the expenses of the department under this chapter, the agency shall transfer to the department for application to the expenses an amount from the safe drinking water revolving loan fund equal to an amount as the agency and the department shall reasonably determine. The agency and the department shall enter into an operating agreement and amend the same, from time to time, allocating their respective rights, duties, and obligations with respect to the award of financial assistance and grants to finance approved projects under this chapter and establishing procedures for the application, approval, and oversight of projects, financial assistance, and grants.

(d) Upon issuance of a certificate of approval, the agency shall award as soon as practicable the financial assistance from the safe drinking water revolving fund to the local governmental unit or privately organized water supplies for any approved project specified in the certificate; provided, however, the agency may decline to award any financial assistance which the agency determines will have a substantial adverse effect on the interests of holders of bonds, notes or other evidences of indebtedness of the agency or the interests of other participants in the financial assistance program, or for other good and sufficient cause affecting the finances of the agency. All financial assistance shall be made pursuant to a loan agreement between the agency and the local governmental unit or privately organized water supplier, acting by and through the officer or officers, board, committee, or other body authorized by law, or otherwise its chief executive officer, according to the terms and conditions of the certificate of approval and such other terms and conditions as may be established by the agency, and each loan shall be evidenced and secured by the issue to the agency of the local governmental obligations or obligations of the privately organized water supplier, in fully marketable form in principal amount, bearing interest at the rate or rates specified in the applicable loan agreement, and shall otherwise bear such terms and conditions as authorized by this chapter and the loan agreement.

(e) The agency shall adopt rules, regulations, procedures, and guidelines for the proper administration of its financial assistance programs and the provision of financial assistance under this chapter. The rules, regulations, procedures, and guidelines shall be consistent with any rules, regulations, procedures, and guidelines adopted by the department, and may include, without limitation, forms of financial assistance applications, loan agreements, and other instruments, and provisions for submission to the agency and the department by a local governmental unit or a privately organized water supplier of the information regarding the proposed safe drinking water project, the distribution system of which it is a part, and the local governmental unit or privately organized water supplies as the agency or the department shall deem necessary to determine the eligibility of a project, for financial assistance under this chapter, the financial feasibility of a project, and the sufficiency of general revenues or system revenues to secure and pay the loan and the local governmental obligations or obligations of the privately organized water supplier issued to evidence the same.

(f) In addition to other remedies of the agency under any loan agreement or otherwise provided by law, the agency may also recover from a local governmental unit or privately organized water supplier, in an action in superior court, any amount due the agency together with any other actual damages the agency shall have sustained from the failure or refusal of the local governmental unit or privately organized water supplier to make the payments.

History of Section. (P.L. 1993, ch. 313, § 1; P.L. 1993, ch. 396, § 1; P.L. 2015, ch. 141, art. 14, § 19.)