§39A-154  Conditions precedent tonegotiating and entering into a project agreement.  (a)  The department,prior to entering into negotiations with respect to a project agreement or atany time during negotiations, shall require that as a condition to thenegotiations or the continuation thereof, the project party shall agree to payall fees, costs, and expenses (direct or indirect) assessed by the departmenteven though a project agreement may not be entered into and may further requirethe deposit of moneys with the department to pay for fees, costs, andexpenses.  Any amount of the deposit in excess of the amount required toreimburse the State shall be returned by the department to the party that madethe deposit.  The State shall not be required to pay to the project party anyinterest or earnings on the deposit.

(b)  The department shall not enter into anyproject agreement with respect to any project unless the legislature shall havefirst authorized the issuance of special purpose revenue bonds to finance theproject pursuant to section 39A-157 and the department has determined that:

(1)  The project party is a responsible party, whetherby reason of economic assets or experience in the type of enterprise to beundertaken through the project, or otherwise; or

(2)  The obligations of the project party under theproject agreement will be unconditionally guaranteed by a person who is aresponsible party, whether by reason of economic assets or experience in thetype of enterprise to be undertaken through the project, or otherwise. [L 1981,c 122, pt of §2; am L 2007, c 44, §7]