It is hereby found, determined and declared that the providing of funds for the construction of projects of capital improvement at educational institutions within this Commonwealth is or may be hindered, impeded and delayed by the high financing costs resulting from the sale of bonds of such educational institutions in the open market, and it is desirable that a state agency be created as hereinafter provided, authorized either (i) to purchase such bonds in order to serve educational institution purposes by financing the construction of projects of capital improvement at less cost, thereby facilitating such construction or (ii) to issue its own revenue bonds for purposes of paying for the costs of such projects.It is hereby further found, determined and declared that there is an urgent need to provide substantial amounts of new scientific, technical and other equipment for teaching, research and related activities at such educational institutions so that they may remain competitive in attracting high-quality faculty and obtaining research grants, and it is desirable that a state agency be empowered, as hereinafter provided, to purchase such equipment for lease or sale to such educational institutions in order to provide them with such equipment at the lowest possible cost, thereby facilitating the acquisition and supply of such equipment to educational institutions and increasing the purchasing power of their funds, including funds provided by tuition and fees and by appropriations from the General Assembly.As used in this chapter, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings unless the context shall otherwise indicate:”Authority” means the Virginia College Building Authority created by § 23-30.25, or, if said Authority shall be abolished, the board, body, commission, department or officer succeeding to the principal functions thereof or to whom the powers given by this chapter to the Authority shall be given by law.”Bonds” means bonds, notes or other evidences of indebtedness or other obligations of the Authority pursuant to this chapter.”Educational institution” means those institutions enumerated in § 23-14, area career and technical schools established under Chapter 16 (§ 23-214 et seq.) of this title, and all other schools owned and operated by the Commonwealth in which a college education is taught for less than four years.”Equipment” means any personal property, including, but without limitation, computer hardware and software and any other improvements of all types, including infrastructure improvements related to equipment, to be used to support academic instruction and research, at educational institutions.”Project” has the same meaning as it is defined in § 23-15.

History

1964, c. 607; 1966, c. 685; 1986, c. 597; 1996, cc. 672, 689.