(a) The maximum aggregate amount of bonds outstanding at any time, for which the moneys in the School Building Debt Service Fund or the Excess Lottery School Building Debt Service Fund are to be pledged, is $500 million; however, any amount of bonds for which moneys have been deposited in a sinking fund, reserve fund or other fund established to provide payment of principal or interest on the bonds shall be excluded from the calculation of the maximum aggregate amount of bonds outstanding at any time. The issuance of revenue bonds under the provisions of this article shall be authorized, from time to time, by resolution or resolutions of the School Building Authority, copies of which shall be provided to the Governor, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Delegates within five days of their approval, which shall set forth the proposed projects authorized in accordance with the provisions of section sixteen of this article and provide for the issuance of bonds in amounts sufficient, when sold as provided in this section, to provide moneys considered sufficient by the authority to pay the costs, less the amounts of any other funds available for the costs or from any appropriation, grant or gift for the costs: Provided, That bond issues from which bond revenues are to be distributed in accordance with section fifteen of this article for projects authorized pursuant to the provisions of section sixteen of this article are not required to set forth the proposed projects in the resolution. The resolution shall prescribe the rights and duties of the bondholders and the School Building Authority and, for that purpose, may prescribe the form of the trust agreement referred to in this section. The bonds may be issued, from time to time, in such amounts; shall be of such series; bear such date or dates; mature at such time or times not exceeding forty years from their respective dates; bear interest at such rate or rates; be in such denominations; be in such form, either coupon or registered, carrying such registration, exchangeability and interchangeability privileges; be payable in such medium of payment and at such place or places within or without the state; be subject to such terms of redemption at such prices not exceeding one hundred five percent of the principal amount of the bonds; and be entitled to such priorities on the revenues paid into the fund pledged for repayment of the bonds as may be provided in the resolution authorizing the issuance of the bonds or in any trust agreement made in connection with the bonds: Provided, however, That revenue bonds issued on or after January 1, 1994, and prior to January 1, 2008, which are secured by lottery proceeds from section eighteen, article twenty-two, chapter twenty-nine of this code shall mature at such time or times not exceeding ten years from their respective dates: Provided further, That revenue bonds issued on or after January 1, 2008, which are secured by lottery proceeds from section eighteen or eighteen-a, article twenty-two, chapter twenty-nine of this code, shall mature at such time or times not exceeding twenty years from their respective dates.

(b) The bonds shall be signed by the Governor, his or her designee or the vice chair of the authority, under the great seal of the state, attested by the Secretary of State, and the coupons attached to the bonds shall bear the facsimile signature of the Governor, his or her designee or the vice chair of the authority. In case any of the officers whose signatures appear on the bonds or coupons cease to be officers before the delivery of the bonds, the signatures shall nevertheless be valid and sufficient for all purposes the same as if the officers had remained in office until the delivery. The revenue bonds shall be sold in the manner determined by the authority to be for the best interests of the state.

(c) Any pledge of revenues made by the School Building Authority for revenue bonds issued prior to July 20, 1993, pursuant to this article is valid and binding between the parties from the time the pledge is made; and the revenues pledged shall immediately be subject to the lien of the pledge without any further physical delivery of the revenues pledged or further act. The lien of the pledge is valid and binding against all parties having claims of any kind in tort, contract or otherwise, irrespective of whether the parties have notice of the lien of the pledge and the pledge shall be a prior and superior charge over any other use of the revenues pledged.

(d) The proceeds of any bonds shall be used solely for the purpose or purposes as may be generally or specifically set forth in the resolution authorizing those bonds and shall be disbursed in the manner and with the restrictions, if any, that the authority provides in the resolution authorizing the issuance of the bonds or in the trust agreement referred to in this section securing the bonds. If the proceeds of the bonds, by error in calculations or otherwise, are less than the cost of any projects specifically set forth in the resolution, additional bonds may in like manner be issued to provide the amount of the deficiency; and unless otherwise provided for in the resolution or trust agreement hereinafter mentioned, the additional bonds shall be considered to be of the same issue and are entitled to payment from the same fund, without preference or priority, as the bonds before issued for the projects. If the proceeds of bonds issued for the projects specifically set forth in the resolution authorizing the bonds issued by the authority exceed the cost of the bonds, the surplus may be used for any other projects authorized in accordance with the provisions of section sixteen of this article or in any other manner that the resolution authorizing the bonds provides. Prior to the preparation of definitive bonds, the authority may, under like restrictions, issue temporary bonds with or without coupons, exchangeable for definitive bonds upon the issuance of the definitive bonds.

(e) After the issuance of any revenue bonds, the revenues pledged for the revenue bonds shall not be reduced as long as any of the revenue bonds are outstanding and unpaid except under the terms, provisions and conditions that are contained in the resolution, trust agreement or other proceedings under which the revenue bonds were issued.

(f) The revenue bonds and the revenue refunding bonds and bonds issued for combined purposes, together with the interest on the bonds, are exempt from all taxation by the State of West Virginia, or by any county, school district, municipality or political subdivision thereof.

(g) Any school construction bonds issued under this section shall be issued on parity with any existing School Building Authority bonds previously issued under this article.