(a) Any reference to the San Bernardino County Transportation Commission or to a County of San Bernardino transportation commission, local transportation authority, service authority for freeway emergencies, or local congestion management agency, shall be deemed to refer to the authority.

(b) By operation of law, the authority shall act as and assume the rights, obligations, assets, and liabilities of the San Bernardino County Consolidated Agencies, as established by operation of law or under any contract to which any of them is a party and that was entered into before January 1, 2017. All real and personal property owned by any of the San Bernardino County Consolidated Agencies shall be transferred to the authority by operation of law.

(c) The respective legally enforceable debts and liabilities of the San Bernardino County Consolidated Agencies shall transfer to the authority and exist as debts and liabilities of the authority in the same manner as if the authority had itself incurred them.

(d) The respective rights of creditors and all liens upon the property of the San Bernardino County Consolidated Agencies transferred to the authority, including, without limitation, any pledge of revenues or other collateral securing the repayment of bonds, as those terms are defined in Section 5450 of the Government Code, and the other responsibilities of the San Bernardino County Consolidated Agencies transferred to the authority, shall be preserved unimpaired, and those bonds are the valid obligations of the authority, in each case limited in lien or pledge to the property affected by the liens or pledges immediately prior to the transfer of related responsibilities and obligations.

(e) All powers, duties, debts, obligations, liabilities, or claims arising out of or related to the powers, duties, debts, obligations, and liabilities transferred to the authority under this chapter by operation of law shall be transferred to the authority without further recourse to the San Bernardino Associated Governments or its member agencies, as applicable, and the authority may be proceeded against or substituted in the place of any of the San Bernardino County Consolidated Agencies if the action or proceeding pertains to a transferred power, duty, revenue, debt, obligation, liability, or claim.

(f) In order to protect the holders of outstanding, unmatured bonds and other evidences of indebtedness of the San Bernardino County Consolidated Agencies pertaining to the responsibilities and obligations transferred to the authority, the authority shall have the power to take all actions and do all things necessary or required for the protection of those holders and for compliance with the terms of those bonds and other evidences of indebtedness. The authority shall have the power to continue all services that the San Bernardino County Consolidated Agencies, on the date of the transfer, was furnishing and that pertained to the responsibilities and obligations transferred to the authority.

(Added by Stats. 2016, Ch. 216, Sec. 7. (SB 1305) Effective January 1, 2017.)