17-5-507. State pledge of gasoline tax -- use. (1) The state pledges and appropriates and directs to be credited as received to the debt service account, as herein defined, that portion of the net proceeds from the collection of gasoline taxes which may from time to time be needed to comply with the principal and interest and reserve requirements stated in subsection (2) of this section. The pledge and appropriation herein made shall be and remain at all times a first and prior charge upon all money received as net proceeds from the collection of gasoline taxation. The term "net proceeds", as used herein, means all funds on hand in the treasury of the state as of any date, derived from the collection of the license tax imposed on gasoline distributors by 15-70-204, enacted by section 3, Chapter 369, Laws of 1969, as amended by section 1, Chapter 202, and by section 2, Chapter 204, Laws of 1971, and by section 90, Chapter 516, Laws of 1973, or by any subsequent enactment, less the amount of all refunds of such taxes for which applications have been made pursuant to law but which have not yet been paid or rejected. The term "debt service account", as used herein, means a separate highway fund which is created within the debt service fund type established by 17-2-102 and shall be segregated by the treasurer from all other money in that or any other fund in the treasury and used only to pay highway bonds and interest thereon when due, so long as any such bonds or interest remain unpaid.
     (2) Money in the debt service account shall be used: first, to pay interest and principal when due on highway bonds; second, to accumulate a reserve in the amount required below, for the further security of such payments; and third, to maintain this reserve in an amount at least equal, after each interest and principal payment, to the maximum amount of interest and principal which will become due on all such bonds which are then outstanding in any subsequent fiscal year.
     (3) Money at any time received in the debt service account in excess of the principal, interest, and reserve requirements stated in subsection (2) shall be transferred by the treasurer to the state special revenue fund, highway account. If the balance at any time on hand in the debt service account is not sufficient for compliance with subsection (2), the treasurer shall credit to said account an amount sufficient to restore said balance from the next receipts of net proceeds from the collection of gasoline taxes.

     History: En. Sec. 7, Ch. 477, L. 1975; amd. Sec. 14, Ch. 298, L. 1983.