Sec. 8. (a) If the authority and the department decide to enter into a lease as authorized under section 6 of this chapter for the purposes enumerated in subsection (b), the authority and the department shall enter into a separate lease for each toll road project or each toll bridge.

     (b) The lease may be entered into for any or all of the following purposes:

(1) The construction of the toll road project or toll bridge.

(2) The reconstruction of the toll road project or toll bridge.

(3) Improvements to the toll road project or toll bridge.

(4) The maintenance of the toll road project or toll bridge.

(5) Repairs to the toll road project or toll bridge.

(6) The operation of the toll road project or toll bridge.

(7) The conversion to a toll road project of a state highway transferred to the authority under IC 8-23-7-23.

     (c) In addition to the provisions required to be included under section 6 of this chapter, the lease must include the following:

(1) A statement that the term of the lease is for a period coextensive with the biennium used for state budgetary and appropriation purposes, with a fractional period when the lease begins if necessary.

(2) A statement that the term of the lease is extended from biennium to biennium, unless either the authority or the department gives notice of nonextension at least six (6) months before the end of a biennium, in which event the lease expires at the end of the biennium in which the notice is given.

(3) A statement of all toll road bonds or toll bridge bonds of the authority that are outstanding or that are to be issued by the authority related to the toll road project or toll bridge for which the lease is entered.

(4) Provisions requiring the department to pay the costs of operating, maintaining, and repairing the toll road project or toll bridge, including major repairs, replacements, and improvements.

(5) Provisions requiring the department to pay rent at times and in amounts sufficient to pay in full the debt service payable under the terms of the toll road bonds or toll bridge bonds issued and outstanding with respect to the toll road project or toll bridge, including any required additions to reserves maintained by the authority, and to pay additional rent as provided by the lease.

(6) Provisions requiring the department to fix, impose, and collect tolls on the toll road project or toll bridge that are at least sufficient, together with other money available to the department, to pay:

(A) the cost of operation, maintenance, and repair, including major repairs, replacements, and improvements; and

(B) the rent to be paid under the lease.

However, the obligation of the department to pay the costs of operation, maintenance, and repair of a toll road project or toll bridge and to pay rent during the term is not limited to the tolls collected or that should be collected by the department but is subject only to the appropriation of funds therefore by an act of the general assembly.

(7) Provisions requiring:

(A) tolls and other revenues collected by the department to be segregated from all other funds under the control of the department; and

(B) the department to make a separate accounting of all receipts and disbursements under the lease.

(8) Provisions requiring the department to maintain all books and records and to prepare and deliver all reports required of the authority under the terms of any applicable trust agreement.

(9) Such other terms and conditions as the authority and the department consider appropriate.

As added by P.L.109-1983, SEC.3. Amended by P.L.386-1987(ss), SEC.1; P.L.18-1990, SEC.105.