Division 14. Coachella Valley Intermodal Transportation Authority of California Public Utilities Code >> Division 14.

For purposes of this division, the following terms have the following meanings:
  (a) The "authority" is the Coachella Valley Intermodal Transportation Authority and its 11 districts created under this division.
  (b) The "board" is the board of directors of the authority, appointed under Section 141010.
  (c) The "district" may be any of the following:
  (1) The incorporated boundary of any one of the Coachella Valley members of the Coachella Valley Association of Governments.
  (2) The unincorporated area of Riverside County within the Coachella Valley.
  (3) The incorporated boundary of the City of Blythe.
  (d) The "district board" is the legislative body of the district.

The Coachella Valley Intermodal Transportation Authority is hereby created to serve as the governing agency for its 11 separate districts, recognized in that capacity by the Coachella Valley Association of Governments, the Riverside County Transportation Commission, and the United States Department of Transportation, for the following purposes:
  (a) Serving as the primary authority for managing and operating intermodal passenger transportation and related infrastructure.
  (b) Serving as the primary authority for intermodal less-than-carload freight transportation and related infrastructure within the Coachella Valley and eastern Riverside County.
  (c) Serving as the primary authority for facilities and services and related infrastructure.
  (d) Establishing, maintaining, and operating an independent political and administrative structure by which to implement passenger and freight transportation initiatives.
  (e) Completing planning and environmental studies to ascertain project feasibility.
  (f) Being available for designation as the lead agency for purposes of environmental review, entitlement permitting, and public participation.
  (g) Acquiring, by grant, purchase, condemnation, gift, devise, or lease, and holding, using, selling, leasing or disposing of, any real and personal property necessary for the full exercise, or convenient or useful for the carrying on of, any of the authority's powers.
  (h) Fixing rates, parking fees, charges, or rents for the use of any facilities acquired, constructed, operated, or maintained by the authority or any of its districts, and modifying the same at its pleasure, subject to any contractual obligation that may be entered into by the authority with respect to the fixing of those rates, fees, charges, or rents.
  (i) Obtaining funds for, and sustaining the planning, development, maintenance, and operation of, the Coachella Valley and City of Blythe Intermodal Transportation Center.
  (j) Accepting gifts, subventions, grants, rebates, and subsidies from any source.
  (k) Entering into indentures.
  (l) Issuing tax-exempt revenue bonds and coupons.
  (m) Spending moneys and incurring indebtedness to fulfill its purposes.

(a) The authority shall be governed by the Executive Committee of the Coachella Valley Association of Governments.
  (b) A district shall be governed by the elected legislative body of that particular political entity.

The board and all district boards shall do all of the following:
  (a) Elect a chairperson, vice chairperson, and secretary.
  (b) Supervise and regulate all facilities owned by, and all operations of, the authority or the district, whichever is applicable.
  (c) Enter into contracts necessary for the full exercise of the power of the authority or district.
  (d) Conduct an annual audit of all accounts of the authority or district.

All meetings of the board or the district boards shall be conducted in accordance with Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 54950) of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code.

No officer or employee of the authority or any district shall in any manner be interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract awarded, or to be awarded by, the board or district boards, or in the profits to be derived therefrom contrary to the provisions of Article 4 (commencing with Section 1090) of Chapter 1 of Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code.

(a) The authority or any of the districts, either in conjunction with the authority or any other of the districts or individually, may issue general and special revenue bonds for the acquisition, construction, or completion of any works, equipment, materials, supplies, properties, or structures necessary or convenient to carry out the objects and purposes of this division.
  (b) The total amount of bonds outstanding shall not be in excess of one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) at any one time per district.
  (c) Each separate improvement shall be designated as a "project" and the purpose, nature, and extent thereof shall be described in general terms prior to the issuance of any bonds.
  (d) The validity of the authorization and issuance of any revenue bonds by the authority or the districts is not dependent on nor affected in any way by any of the following:
  (1) Proceedings taken by the authority or the districts for the acquisition, construction, or completion of any improvement or any part thereof.
  (2) Any contracts made by the authority or the districts for the acquisition, construction, or completion of any improvements.
  (3) The failure to complete any improvements for which bonds are authorized to be issued.
  (e) The authority or any district shall issue revenue bonds in its name only. These bonds shall constitute obligations of the authority or district only, and neither the payment of principal or interest of any bond constitutes a debt, liability, or obligation of the State of California. The authority or district shall determine the time, form, and manner of the issuance of revenue bonds.
  (f) The authority or the districts may enter into indentures providing the aggregate principal amount, date or dates, maturities, interest rate, denomination, form, registration transfer, and interchange of the bonds and coupons and the terms and conditions upon which the bonds and coupons shall be executed, issued, secured, sold, paid, redeemed, funded, and refunded. Reference to this division shall be made on the face of the bonds to those indentures by its date of adoption, or the apparent date, on the face thereof and into the body of these bonds and their appurtenant coupons. Each taker and subsequent holder of these bonds or coupons, whether the coupons are attached or detached from the bonds, has recourse to all of the provisions of the indenture and of this division, and is bound thereby.

(a) The authority may acquire, construct, own, operate, control, or use right-of-way, rail lines, bus lines, stations, platforms, switches, yards, terminals, and any and all other facilities, equipment, and infrastructure necessary and convenient to provide intermodal transportation services, together with all physical structures necessary or convenient for the access of persons and vehicles thereto.
  (b) The authority or districts may acquire any interest in, or rights to, the joint use of any or all of the things listed in subdivision (a). However, installations in any street, road, or other property devoted to a public use shall be subject to consent of the governing body in charge of that public use.

The authority or the districts shall not interfere with, or exercise any control over, any transit facilities now or hereafter owned and operated wholly or partially within the district by any city or public agency, unless by consent of the city or public agency, and upon any terms that are mutually agreed upon between the board and the city or public agency.