Section 11-92A-12 Powers of Authority.

An authority shall have the following powers, which it may exercise in any county within such authority’s authorized operational area: (1) To have succession by its corporate name until dissolved as provided in this chapter; (2) To institute and defend legal proceedings in any court of competent jurisdiction and proper venue; provided, however, that an authority may not be sued in any trial court other than the courts of a county within the authorized operational area of the authority; provided, further, that the officers, directors, agents, and employees of an authority may not be sued for their actions in behalf of the authority except for actions that are known by such person to be unlawful or are performed with reckless disregard for the lawfulness of such actions; (3) To have and to use a corporate seal and to alter the seal at its pleasure; (4) To establish a fiscal year; (5) To anticipate by the issuance of its bonds the receipt of any revenues or grants of money that may be appropriated by or to the authority; (6) To pledge the proceeds of such receipts, revenues, or grants of money as security for the payment of the principal of and interest on its bonds; (7) To make surveys and other analyses to determine suitable locations for prospective industries; (8) To make surveys and other analyses to determine the availability of labor and to classify such labor in terms of skills and educational levels; (9) To assist other public or private persons in the survey and analyses of their industrial resources and needs; (10) To make grants of money to other public or private persons and to any organization which is described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as in effect from time to time, or as recodified, or any corresponding provision of any future revenue law; (11) To accept gifts, grants, bequests, or devises; (12) To accept pledges of revenues or grants of money from public persons and to enter into binding agreements with those entities, with or without consideration; (13) To enter into deeds, mortgages, leases, loan agreements, or other agreements with any person; (14) To require and/or accept lease payments, loan repayments, or other compensation to or for the authority or other public persons in lieu of sales, use, mortgage, lease, ad valorem, and/or other taxes; (15) To accept donations of money or real or personal or mixed property from any person; (16) To invest in bank deposits, U.S. Treasury bills, projects, instruments, real, personal, or mixed property, and such other investments as the board of directors may from time to time determine to be appropriate and convenient to accomplish any purpose for which an authority is organized, including works of internal improvement, interests in private or corporate enterprises, loans of money or credit to individuals, associations, or corporations, or the lending of the authority’s credit, granting of public money or things of value in aid of or to any individual, association, or corporation whatsoever, or becoming a stockholder in any such corporation, association, or company by issuing bonds or otherwise even though such might be in violation of Section 93 or Section 94 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901 if done by the state, a county, city, town, or other subdivision of the state, notwithstanding the fact that any such investment or action may involve the expenditure or appropriation of funds received from a public person. In particular, but not by way of limitation, an authority may invest its funds (from whatever source) in the stock, bonds, debentures, notes, or other securities issued by any person locating a project in the authority’s authorized operational area, may enter into contracts or options (including contracts or options for the conveyance, sale or lease of property) to any such person at less than arms’ length and at bargain rates, purchase prices, rents, or the like, or for nominal consideration, and make direct grants of money, property, or services (from whatever source) to any such person for the purpose of inducing any such person to locate a project in the authority’s authorized operational area; (17) To appoint and employ such attorneys, agents, fiscal agents, underwriters, issuers of letters of credit, depositories, banks, trustees, paying agents, transfer agents, remarketing agents, marketing agents, rating agencies, insurers of its securities, guarantors of its securities, providers of other forms of credit enhancement for its securities, and the like as an authority may require or deem appropriate for the carrying out of its corporate purposes and the exercise of its powers; (18) To acquire real property for the purpose of establishing one or more than one industrial parks or industrial sites; to improve industrial parks or industrial sites, whether owned by the authority or by any other person, including the improvement of such parks or sites by the construction of roads, curbing, gutters, drainage, sewerage, utilities, railroad spurs, docks, harbors, ports, grading, and the like; to construct, for its own account or the account of others, improvements thereon, including any project, for the purpose of conveying, leasing or selling the same to any person, including the power to convey, lease or sell the same for its own account at a profit or loss, or to construct the same to constitute an inducement for any person to locate and operate a project in such industrial park or at such industrial site, even though such person may not have been identified at the time such improvement may be constructed; (19) To exercise all powers granted hereunder in such manner as it may determine to be consistent with the purposes of this chapter, notwithstanding that as a consequence of the exercise of such powers it engages in activities that may be deemed “anticompetitive” within the contemplation of the antitrust laws of the state or of the United States; and (20) To enter into such contracts, agreements, options, leases, loan agreements, deeds, and other instruments, and to take such other actions as may be necessary or convenient to accomplish any purpose for which an authority is organized or to exercise any power expressly granted hereunder.