The Legislature finds and declares the following: That the State of Alabama, acting in its own name and through various public corporations, has made substantial financial contractual commitments for incentives to industries agreeing to locate or expand their operations in Alabama; that the creation of a state-level agency with power to fund the commitments is desirable and in the public interest; that by the passage of this division it is the intention to provide for the creation of Alabama Incentives Financing Authority with broad powers to meet existing commitments made by the state to industries committing to locate or expand in the state; and that it is necessary and in the public interest that the authority pledge for payment of its obligations the funds appropriated to the authority in order to enable it to fund existing commitments and to carry out functions that are essential to the public welfare. This division shall be liberally construed in accordance with its remedial purposes.