Any action or proceeding to which the authority or the people of the state may be a party in which any question arises as to the validity of the Mortgage Finance Authority Act shall be preferred over all other civil causes in all courts of the state and shall be heard and determined in preference to all other civil business pending in the courts irrespective of position on the calendar. The same preference shall be granted upon application of counsel to the authority in any action or proceeding questioning the validity of that act in which he may be allowed to intervene. The venue of any action or proceeding to which the authority or the people of the state are a party shall be laid in the county in which the principal office of the authority is located.