Sec. 1. 20-A MRSA §7407, sub-§20 is enacted to read:

20.__Financing.__To procure funds to carry out the purposes of this chapter, the school board may borrow money and issue general obligation bonds and notes in anticipation of bonds, subject to prior approval of the Governor.

A.__Each bond or note must bear interest at rates as the school board determines, payable annually or semiannually, and are subject to other provisions as determined by the school board.__These bonds and notes may be issued to mature serially or to run for such periods as the school board determines, except that the maturity of any term bond may not exceed 40 years.__All bonds may be made callable, at the discretion of the school board, in the amount of premium to be paid on call.__The period for which these callable bonds are not redeemable must be left to the discretion of the school board.__This discretion may be manifested by a vote of the school board.

B.__All bonds and notes issued by the school must be signed by the State Treasurer and countersigned by the chair of the school board.__When coupon bonds are issued, each coupon must be attested by the facsimile signatures of the State Treasurer and chair of the school board printed on the coupons.__These bonds and notes are legal obligations of the school, which, pursuant to section 7401, is a body politic and corporate and is an instrumentality and agency of the State.__Bonds and notes issued by the school are legal investments in which all public officers and public bodies of the State and political subdivisions, municipalities and municipal subdivisions; all insurance companies and associations and other persons carrying on an insurance business; all banks, bankers, banking associations, including savings and loan associations, building and loan associations, investment companies and other persons carrying on a banking business; all administrators, guardians, executors, trustees and other fiduciaries; and all other persons who are, at the time of approval of this Act or may hereafter be, authorized to invest in bonds or other obligations of the State, may properly and legally invest funds, including capital, in their control or belonging to them.__The securities are also, by this subsection, made securities that may be properly and legally deposited with and received by all public officers and bodies of the State, any agency or political subdivision of the State and all municipalities and public corporations