As used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise:
(1) “Administrative fee” means a fee assessed and collected by the authority from borrowers and applicants under assistance agreements, to be used for operational expenses of the authority;
(2) “Applicable interest rate” means the rate of interest which shall be used as part of the repayment criteria for an assistance agreement between a governmental agency and the authority, and shall be determined by the authority pertinent to the source of funds from which the assistance agreement is funded;
(3) “Applicant” means a governmental agency or private sector entity that has submitted an application to the office for a grant from the broadband deployment fund;
(4) “Application” means an application submitted by an applicant for a grant from the broadband deployment fund;
(5) “Asset management plan” means a plan for the water and wastewater utility that includes:
(a) Identification of all the capital assets owned by or used in the operations of the utility;
(b) A detailed engineering analysis of asset condition and useful life to be used to develop an infrastructure inspection, repair, and maintenance program;
(c) A description of how the utility will annually review the infrastructure needs; (d) A description of how the utility will conduct planned maintenance;
(e) A description of how the utility will conduct timely repair, replacement, or upgrade of capital assets, including pumps, motors, and pipes; and
(f) An analysis of customer rates necessary to support the asset management plan, including emergency repairs;
(6) “Assistance agreement” means the agreement to be made and entered into by and between a governmental agency or a private entity and the authority, as authorized by this chapter, providing for a lease, loan, services, or grant to a governmental agency or a private entity or for the purchase of obligations issued by the governmental agency, and for the repayment thereof to the authority by the governmental agency or a private entity;
(7) “Authority” means the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority, which is created by this chapter;
(8) “Authority revenues” means the totality of all: (a) Service charges;
(b) Utility tax receipts, to the extent not otherwise committed and budgeted by the authority during any fiscal period of the authority;
(c) Any gifts, grants, or loans received, to the extent not otherwise required to be applied;
(d) Any and all appropriations made to the authority by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, to the extent not otherwise required to be
applied;
(e) All moneys received in repayment of and for interest on any loans made by the authority to a governmental agency, except as provided in KRS § 224A.111,
224A.1115, and 224A.112, or as principal of and interest on any obligations issued by a governmental agency and purchased by the authority, or as receipts under any assistance agreement;
(f) The proceeds of bonds or long-term debt obligations of governmental agencies pledged to the payment of bond anticipation notes issued by the authority on behalf of the said governmental agency to provide interim construction financing; and
(g) Payments under agreements with any agencies of the state and federal government;
(9) “Borrower or borrowing entity” means any agency of the state or its political subdivisions, any city, or any special district created under the laws of the state acting individually or jointly under interagency or interlocal cooperative agreements to enter into assistance agreements with the authority;
(10) “Broadband deployment fund” means a fund to assist with the construction, development, or improvement of broadband infrastructure, broadband services, or technologies that constitute a part of, or are related to, broadband infrastructure or broadband services, to provide for broadband service in underserved or unserved areas of the Commonwealth;
(11) “Broadband deployment project” means a proposed deployment of broadband service infrastructure set forth in an application for which grant funding under KRS
224A.112;
(12) “Broadband deployment project area” means a geographic area determined by census block, shapefile geospatial data, or list of addresses which has been proposed for grant funding under this section and KRS § 224A.110, 224A.112, and
224A.1121;
(13) “Census block” means the smallest geographic unit used by the United States Census Bureau that is reported on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Form 477 relating to fixed broadband deployment data;
(14) “Community flood damage abatement project” means any structural or nonstructural study, plan, design, construction, development, improvement, or other activity to provide for flood control;
(15) “Construction” means and includes but is not limited to:
(a) Preliminary planning to determine the economic and engineering feasibility of infrastructure projects, the engineering, architectural, legal, fiscal, and economic investigations, and studies necessary thereto, and surveys, designs, plans, working drawings, specifications, procedures, and other actions necessary to the construction of infrastructure or solid waste projects;
(b) The erection, building, acquisition, alteration, remodeling, improvement, or extension of infrastructure or solid waste projects; and
(c) The inspection and supervision of the construction of infrastructure or solid waste projects and all costs incidental to the acquisition and financing of
same. This term shall also relate to and mean any other physical devices or appurtenances in connection with, or reasonably attendant to, infrastructure or solid waste projects;
(16) “Dams” means any artificial barrier, including appurtenant works, which does or can impound or divert water, and which either:
(a) Is or will be twenty-five (25) feet or more in height from the natural bed of the stream or watercourse at the downstream toe of the barrier, as determined by the Energy and Environment Cabinet; or
(b) Has or will have an impounding capacity at maximum water storage elevation of fifty (50) acre feet or more;
(17) “Distribution facilities” means all or any part of any facilities, devices, and systems used and useful in obtaining, pumping, storing, treating, and distributing water for agricultural, industrial, commercial, recreational, public, and domestic use;
(18) “Energy and Environment Cabinet” means the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, or its successor, said term being meant to relate specifically to the state agency which is designated as the water pollution agency for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, for purposes of the federal act;
(19) “Federal act” means the Federal Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq., as said federal act may be amended from time to time in the future, or any other enactment of the United States Congress providing funds that may assist in carrying out the purposes of the authority;
(20) “Federally assisted wastewater revolving fund” means that fund which will receive federal and state funds or the proceeds from the sale of revenue bonds of the authority for the purpose of providing loans to finance construction of publicly owned treatment works as defined in Section 212 of the federal act and for the implementation of a management program established under Section 319 of the federal act and for the development and implementation of a conservation and management plan under Section 320 of the federal act;
(21) “Governmental agency” means any incorporated city or municipal corporation, or other agency, or unit of government within or a department or a cabinet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, now having or hereafter granted, the authority and power to finance, acquire, construct, or operate infrastructure or solid waste projects. This definition shall specifically apply but not by way of limitation to incorporated cities; counties, including any counties containing a metropolitan sewer district; sanitation districts; water districts; water associations; sewer construction districts; metropolitan sewer districts; sanitation taxing districts; a regional wastewater commission established under KRS § 65.8901 to KRS § 65.8923; and any other agencies, commissions, districts, or authorities (either acting alone, or in combination with one another in accordance with any regional or area compact, or intergovernmental cooperative agreements), now or hereafter established in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky having and possessing the described powers described in this subsection;
(22) “Industrial waste” means any liquid, gaseous, or solid waste substances resulting from any process of industry, manufacture, trade, or business, or from the mining or taking, development, processing, or recovery of any natural resources, including
heat and radioactivity, together with any sewage as is present therein, which pollutes the waters of the state, and specifically, but not by way of limitation, means heat or thermal differentials created in the waters of the state by any industrial processing, generating, or manufacturing processes;
(23) “Infrastructure project” means any construction or acquisition of treatment works, facilities related to the collection, transportation, and treatment of wastewater as defined in KRS § 65.8903, distribution facilities, or water resources projects instituted by a governmental agency or an investor-owned water utility which is approved by the authority and, if required, by the Energy and Environment Cabinet, Public Service Commission, or other agency; solid waste projects; dams; storm water control and treatment systems; gas or electric utility; broadband deployment project; or any other public utility or public service project which the authority finds would assist in carrying out the purposes set out in KRS § 224A.300;
(24) “Infrastructure revolving fund” means that fund which will receive state funds, the proceeds from the sale of revenue bonds of the authority or other moneys earmarked for that fund for the purpose of providing loans or grants to finance construction or acquisition of infrastructure projects as defined in this section;
(25) “Loan or grant” means moneys to be made available to governmental agencies by the authority for the purpose of defraying all or any part of the total costs incidental to construction or acquisition of any infrastructure project;
(26) “Market interest rate” means the interest rate determined by the authority under existing market conditions at the time the authority shall provide financial assistance to a governmental agency;
(27) “Merger” means the act of merging ownership, consolidating, or establishing common management or operations with a contract of more than five (5) years between more than one (1) governmental agency or utility as defined in KRS
278.010. This may include changes to contracts already in place. Merger does not require a physical connection to be established;
(28) “Obligation of a governmental agency” means a revenue bond, bond anticipation note, revenue anticipation note, lease, or other obligation issued by a governmental agency under KRS § 58.010 et seq. or other applicable statutes;
(29) “Office” means the Office of Broadband Development;
(30) “Person” means any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, or governmental agency;
(31) “Pollution” means the placing of any noxious or deleterious substances (“pollutants”), including sewage and industrial wastes, in any waters of the state or affecting the properties of any waters of the state in a manner which renders the waters harmful or inimical to the public health or to animal or aquatic life, or to the use, present or future, of these waters for domestic water supply, industrial or agricultural purposes, or recreational purposes;
(32) “Prioritization schedules” means the list of wastewater treatment works, distribution facilities and water resources projects which the Energy and Environment Cabinet has evaluated and determined to be of priority for receiving financial assistance from the federally assisted wastewater revolving fund and the federally assisted
drinking water revolving fund, or the list of infrastructure projects which the authority has evaluated and determined to be of priority for receiving financial aid from the infrastructure revolving fund. The evaluation by the authority of infrastructure projects for water systems shall be undertaken with input from the appropriate area development district;
(33) “Recovered material” means those materials which have known current use, reuse, or recycling potential, which can be feasibly used, reused, or recycled, and which have been diverted or removed from the solid waste stream for sale, use, reuse, or recycling, whether or not requiring subsequent separation and processing but does not include materials diverted or removed for purposes of energy recovery or combustion except refuse-derived fuel (RDF), which shall be credited as a recovered material in an amount equal to that percentage of the municipal solid waste received on a daily basis at the processing facility and processed into RDF; but not to exceed fifteen percent (15%) of the total amount of the municipal solid waste received at the processing facility on a daily basis;
(34) “Recovered material processing facility” means a facility engaged solely in the storage, processing, and resale or reuse of recovered material but does not mean a solid waste facility if solid waste generated by a recovered material processing facility is managed in accordance with KRS Chapter 224 and administrative regulations adopted by the cabinet;
(35) “Revenue bonds” means special obligation bonds issued by the authority as provided by the provisions of this chapter, which are not direct or general obligations of the state, and which are payable only from a pledge of, and lien upon, authority revenues as provided in the resolution authorizing the issuance of the bonds, and shall include revenue bond anticipation notes;
(36) “Service charge” means any monthly, quarterly, semiannual, or annual charge to be imposed by a governmental agency, or by the authority, for any infrastructure project financed by the authority, which service charge arises by reason of the existence of, and requirements of, any assistance agreement;
(37) “Sewage” means any of the waste products or excrements, or other discharges from the bodies of human beings or animals, which pollute the waters of the state;
(38) “Shapefile” means a file format for storing, depicting, and analyzing geospatial data showing broadband coverage;
(39) “Solid waste” means “solid waste” as defined by KRS § 224.1-010(30)(a);
(40) “Solid waste facility” means any facility for collection, handling, storage, transportation, transfer, processing, treatment, or disposal of solid waste, whether the facility is associated with facilities generating the waste or otherwise, but does not include a container located on property where the waste is generated and which is used solely for the purpose of collection and temporary storage of that solid waste prior to off-site disposal, or a recovered material processing facility;
(41) “Solid waste project” means construction, renovation, or acquisition of a solid waste facility which shall be instituted and owned by a governmental agency;
(42) “Solid waste revolving fund” means that fund which shall receive state funds, the proceeds from the sale of revenue bonds of the authority, or other moneys
earmarked for the purpose of providing loans or grants to finance solid waste projects defined in this section;
(43) “State” means the Commonwealth of Kentucky;
(44) “System” means the system owned and operated by a governmental agency with respect to solid waste projects, treatment works, or infrastructure projects financed as provided by the assistance agreement between the governmental agency and the authority;
(45) “Treatment works” or “wastewater treatment works” means all or any part of any facilities, devices, and systems used and useful in the storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of wastewater or the abatement of pollution, including facilities for the treatment, neutralization, disposal of, stabilization, collecting, segregating, or holding of wastewater, including without limiting the generality of the foregoing, intercepting sewers, outfall sewers, pumping power stations, and other equipment and their appurtenances; extensions, improvements, remodeling, additions, and alterations thereof, and any wastewater treatment works, including site acquisition of the land that will be an integral part of the wastewater treatment process, or is used for ultimate disposal of residues resulting from wastewater treatment, together with any other facilities which are deemed to be treatment works in accordance with the federal act;
(46) “Underserved area” means any project area where broadband service with a minimum one hundred (100) megabits per second downstream and twenty (20) megabits per second upstream is not available;
(47) “Unserved area” means any project area where broadband service with a minimum twenty-five (25) megabits per second downstream and three (3) megabits per second upstream is not available;
(48) “Utility tax” means the tax which may be imposed by the authority on every purchase of water or sewer service in the Commonwealth of Kentucky;
(49) “Variable rate revenue bonds” means revenue bonds the rate of interest on which fluctuates either automatically by reference to a predetermined formula or index or in accordance with the standards set forth in KRS § 224A.120;
(50) “Wastewater” means any water or liquid substance containing sewage, industrial waste, or other pollutants or contaminants derived from the prior use of these waters;
(51) “Water resources” means all waters of the state occurring on the surface, in natural or artificial channels, lakes, reservoirs, or impoundments, and in subsurface aquifers, which are available, or which may be made available to agricultural, industrial, commercial, recreational, public, and domestic users;
(52) “Water resources project” means any structural or nonstructural study, plan, design, construction, development, improvement, or any other activity including programs for management, intended to conserve and develop the water resources of the state and shall include all aspects of water supply, facilities to collect, transport, and treat wastewater as defined in KRS § 65.8903, flood damage abatement, navigation, water- related recreation, and land conservation facilities and measures; and
(53) “Waters of the state” means all streams, lakes, watercourses, waterways, ponds,
marshes, wells, springs, irrigation systems, drainage systems, and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface and underground, natural or artificial, which are situated wholly or partly within, or border upon, this state, or are within its jurisdiction, except those private waters which do not combine or effect a junction with natural, surface, or underground waters.
Effective: June 29, 2023
History: Amended 2023 Ky. Acts ch. 179, sec. 1, effective June 29, 2023. — Amended
2022 Ky. Acts ch. 177, sec. 3, effective July 14, 2022; and ch. 202, sec. 2, effective April 14, 2022. — Amended 2020 Ky. Acts ch. 72, sec. 1, effective July 15, 2020. — Amended 2017 Ky. Acts ch. 117, sec. 27, effective June 29, 2017. — Amended 2011
Ky. Acts ch. 98, sec. 19, effective June 8, 2011. — Amended 2010 Ky. Acts ch. 24, sec. 385, effective July 15, 2010. — Amended 2006 Ky. Acts ch. 134, sec. 1, effective July 12, 2006. — Amended 2002 Ky. Acts ch. 342, sec. 15, effective July
15, 2002. — Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 529, sec. 15, effective July 14, 2000. — Amended 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 69, sec. 73, effective July 15, 1998. — Amended 1994
Ky. Acts ch. 373, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1994. – Amended 1991 (1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 12, sec. 42, effective February 26, 1991. — Amended 1990 Ky. Acts ch.
217, sec. 1, effective July 13, 1990; and ch. 477, sec. 2, effective July 13, 1990. — Created 1988 Ky. Acts ch. 124, sec. 1, effective March 31, 1988.