12-2524. Kansas City area transportation district and authority compact; commissioners.
12-2524
12-2524. Kansas City area transportation district and authority
compact; commissioners.
The governor shall appoint, subject to confirmation by the senate as
provided in K.S.A. 75-4315b, three commissioners to enter into a compact on
behalf of the state of Kansas with the state of Missouri. Any two of the
commissioners so appointed, together with the attorney general of the state
of Kansas may act to enter into the following compact:
Compact Between Kansas and Missouri Creating the Kansas City Area
Transportation District and the Kansas City Area Transportation
Authority.
The states of Kansas and Missouri solemnly agree:
Article I
They agree to and pledge, each to the other, faithful cooperation in
the future planning and development of the Kansas City area
transportation district, holding in high trust for the benefit of its
people and of the nation the special blessings and natural advantages
thereof.
Article II
To that end, the two states create a district to be known as the
Kansas City area transportation district (hereinafter referred to as
"the district"), which shall embrace the following territory: The
counties of Cass, Clay, Jackson and Platte in Missouri, and the counties
of Johnson, Leavenworth and Wyandotte in Kansas.
Article III
There is created the Kansas City area transportation authority of the
Kansas City area transportation district (hereinafter referred to as the
"authority"), which shall be a body corporate and politic and a
political subdivision of the states of Kansas and Missouri.
The authority shall have the following powers:
(1) To acquire by gift, purchase or lease and to plan, construct,
operate and maintain, or to lease to others for operation and
maintenance, passenger transportation systems and facilities, either
upon, above, or below the ground.
(2) To charge and collect fees and rents for use of the facilities
owned or operated by it.
(3) To contract and to be contracted with, and to sue and to be
sued.
(4) To receive for its lawful activities any contributions or moneys
appropriated by municipalities or counties, by the federal government
or any agency or officer thereof or from any other source.
(5) To disburse funds for its lawful activities and fix salaries and
wages of its officers and employees.
(6) To borrow money for the acquisition, planning, construction,
equipping, operation, maintenance, repair, extension, and improvement of
any facility which it has the power to own or to operate or to own and
to operate, and to issue the negotiable notes, bonds or other
instruments in writing of the authority in evidence of the sum or sums
to be borrowed.
(7) To issue negotiable refunding notes, bonds or other instruments
in writing for the purpose of refunding, extending or unifying the whole
or any part of its valid indebtedness from time to time outstanding,
whether evidenced by notes, bonds, or other instruments in writing,
which refunding notes, bonds or other instruments in writing shall not
exceed in amount the principal of the outstanding indebtedness to be
refunded and the accrued interest thereon to the date of such refunding.
(8) To provide that all negotiable notes, bonds and other
instruments in writing issued either pursuant to subdivision (6) or
pursuant to subdivision (7) hereof shall be payable, both as to
principal and interest, out of the revenues collected for the use of any
facility or combination of facilities owned or operated or owned and
operated by the authority, or out of any other resources of the
authority, and may be further secured by a mortgage or deed of trust
upon any property owned by the authority. All notes, bonds or other
instruments in writing issued by the authority as herein provided shall
mature in not to exceed 40 years from the date thereof, shall
bear interest at a rate not exceeding the maximum rate of interest
prescribed by K.S.A. 10-1009, and shall be sold for not less than 95% of
the par value thereof. The authority shall
have the power to prescribe the details of such notes, bonds or other
instruments in writing, and of the issuance and sale thereof, and shall
have the power to enter into covenants with the holders of such notes,
bonds or other instruments in writing, not inconsistent with the powers
herein granted to the authority, without further legislative authority.
(9) To condemn any and all rights or property, of any kind or
character, necessary for the purposes of the authority, subject
to the provisions of this compact, but no property now or
hereafter vested in or held by either state or by any county, city,
village, township or other political subdivision, shall be taken by the
authority without the authority or consent of such state, county, city,
village, township or other political subdivision. If the property to be
condemned be situated in the state of Kansas, the authority shall
follow the procedure of the act of the state of Kansas providing for the
exercise of the right of eminent domain, and if the property to be
condemned be situated in the state of Missouri, the authority shall
follow the procedure provided by the laws of the state of Missouri for
the appropriation of land or other property taken for telegraph,
telephone or railroad rights-of-way.
(10) To petition any interstate commerce commission (or like body),
public service commission, public utilities commission (or like body),
or any other federal, municipal, state or local authority,
administrative, judicial or legislative, having jurisdiction in the
premises, for the adoption of plans for and execution of any physical
improvements, change in method, rate of transportation, which, in the
opinion of the authority, may be designed to improve or better the
handling of commerce in and through the district, or improve terminal
and transportation facilities therein. It may intervene in any
proceeding affecting the commerce of the district.
(11) To perform all other necessary and incidental functions; and to
exercise such additional powers as shall be conferred on it by the
legislature of either state concurred in by the legislature of the other
and by act of congress.
Article IV
Nothing contained in this compact shall impair the powers of any
county, municipality or other political subdivision to acquire, own,
operate, develop or improve any facility which the authority is given
the right and power to own, operate, develop or improve.
Nothing herein shall impair or invalidate in any way bonded
indebtedness of either state or of any county, city, village, township
or other political subdivision, nor impair the provisions of law
regulating the payment into sinking funds of revenues derived from
municipal property or dedicating the revenues derived from any municipal
property to a specific purpose.
Unless and until otherwise provided, the authority shall make an
annual report to the governor of each state, setting forth in detail the
operations and transactions conducted by it pursuant to this compact and
any legislation thereunder.
Article V
The authority shall consist of 10 commissioners, five of
whom shall be resident voters of the state of Missouri and five of
whom shall be resident voters of the state of Kansas. All commissioners
shall reside within the district, the Missouri members to be chosen by
the state of Missouri and the Kansas members by the state of Kansas, in
the manner and for the terms fixed by the legislature of each state
except as herein provided.
Article VI
The authority shall elect from its number a chairperson and a
vice-chairperson, and may appoint such officers and employees
as it may require for the performance of its duties, and shall fix and
determine their qualifications and duties.
Unless otherwise determined by the legislature of the two states,
no action of the authority shall be binding unless taken at a meeting at
which at least three members from each state are present, and unless
a majority of the members from each state, present at such meeting,
shall vote in favor thereof.
The two states shall provide penalties for violations of any
order, rule or regulation of the authority, and for the manner of
enforcing the same.
Article VII
The authority is authorized and directed to proceed to carry out its
duties, functions and powers in accordance with the articles of this
compact as rapidly as may be economically practical and is vested with
all necessary and appropriate powers, not inconsistent with the
constitution or the laws of the United States or of either state, to
effectuate the same, except the power to levy taxes or assessments.
In Witness Thereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals
under authority vested in us by law.
In the Presence of:
History: L. 1965, ch. 115, § 1; L. 1970, ch. 64, § 19; L. 1978,
ch. 99, § 13; L. 1982, ch. 347, § 8; July 1.