1. The authority shall have the following powers, together with all powers incidental thereto or necessary for the performance thereof:

(1) To have perpetual succession as a body politic and corporate;

(2) To adopt bylaws for the regulation of its affairs and the conduct of its business;

(3) To sue and be sued and to prosecute and defend, at law or in equity, in any court having jurisdiction of the subject matter and of the parties;

(4) To have and to use a corporate seal and to alter the same at pleasure;

(5) To maintain an office at such place or places in the state of Missouri as it may designate;

(6) To issue bonds or other forms of indebtedness to obtain funds to purchase student loan notes or finance student loans, or both, including those which are guaranteed under the provisions of sections 173.095 to 173.187, or under the provisions of the federal Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, or secondary education loans, or scholarships which have been converted to loans under the Missouri teacher education scholarship program provided for in sections 160.276 to 160.283. Such bonds or other forms of indebtedness shall be payable from and secured by a pledge of revenues derived from or by reason of the ownership of student loan notes or financing of student loans, or both, and investment income or shall be payable from and secured as may be designated in a bond resolution authorized by the authority. Such bonds or other forms of indebtedness shall not constitute a debt or liability of the state of Missouri or of any political subdivision thereof;

(7) To cause proceeds of any bond or any other form of indebtedness to be used to purchase student loan notes or finance student loans, or both, including those which are guaranteed under section 173.110, or guaranteed under the federal Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, or secondary education loans, or scholarships which have been converted to loans under the Missouri teacher education scholarship program provided for in sections 160.276 to 160.283;

(8) To sell or enter into agreements to sell student loan notes acquired pursuant to subdivision (7) of this section, and any agreement to sell student loan notes guaranteed under section 173.110 shall be subject to prior approval of the department. Such agreements to sell student loan notes shall be limited only by the terms of the bond resolution authorizing the issue of the bonds or other forms of indebtedness, but shall not be limited by any other provision of law limiting the sale of such student loan notes;

(9) To transfer assets of the authority to the Lewis and Clark discovery fund established in section 173.392;

(10) To accept appropriations, gifts, grants, bequests, and devises and to utilize or dispose of the same to carry out its purpose;

(11) To make and execute contracts, releases, compromises, and other instruments necessary or convenient for the exercise of its powers, or to carry out its purpose;

(12) To collect reasonable fees and charges in connection with making and servicing its loans, notes, bonds, obligations, commitments, and other evidences of indebtedness, and in connection with providing technical, consultative and project assistant services. Such fees and charges shall be used to pay the costs of the authority;

(13) To invest any funds not required for immediate disbursement in obligations of the state of Missouri or of the United States government or any instrumentality thereof, the principal and interest of which are guaranteed by the state of Missouri, or the United States government or any instrumentality thereof, or certificates of deposit or time deposits of federally insured banks, or federally insured savings and loan associations or of insured credit unions, or, with respect to moneys pledged or held under a trust estate or otherwise available for the owners of bonds or other forms of indebtedness, any investment authorized under the bond resolution governing the security and payment of such obligations or repurchase agreements for the specified investments;

(14) To acquire, hold and dispose of personal property to carry out its purposes;

(15) To enter into agreements or other transactions with any federal or state agency, any person and any domestic or foreign partnership, corporation, association or organization;

(16) To take any necessary actions to be qualified to issue tax-exempt bonds or other forms of tax-exempt indebtedness pursuant to the applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, including the issuance of such bonds to fulfill the obligations of the authority under subsection 2 of this section;

(17) To take any necessary actions to be qualified to issue bonds or other forms of indebtedness, the interest on which is not exempt from federal income taxation, including the issuance of such bonds to fulfill the obligations of the authority under subsection 2 of this section;

(18) To service student loans for any owner thereof, regardless of whether such student loans are originated in this state or out of this state;

(19) To create, acquire, contribute to, or invest in any type of financial aid program that provides grants and scholarships to students.

2. The authority shall distribute three hundred fifty million dollars of assets of the authority to the Lewis and Clark discovery fund established in section 173.392 as follows: two hundred thirty million dollars no later than September 15, 2007; five million dollars by December 31, 2007; and five million dollars each quarter thereafter ending September 30, 2013. Any investment earnings on the moneys in the Lewis and Clark discovery fund shall be credited against the next distribution by the authority and shall thereby reduce the amount of any such distribution by the authority. The authority shall make any distributions to the Lewis and Clark discovery fund pursuant to the dates scheduled in this subsection, provided, however, that the date of any such distribution may be delayed by the authority if the authority determines that any such distribution may materially adversely effect the services and benefits provided Missouri students or residents in the ordinary course of the authority’s business, the borrower benefit programs of the authority, or the economic viability of the authority. Notwithstanding the ability of the authority to delay any distribution required by this subsection, the distribution of the entire three hundred fifty million dollars of assets by the authority to the Lewis and Clark discovery fund shall be completed no later than September 30, 2013, unless otherwise approved by the authority and the commissioner of the office of administration.

3. No member of the authority who lawfully acts or votes on any agreement or other matter authorized under the powers granted to the authority under this section shall incur any personal liability as a result of such lawful deliberations, acts, or votes, and such members shall be immune from suit for such deliberations, acts, or votes. In no event shall such deliberations, acts, or votes constitute a conflict of interest under section 173.380.

4. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, in the event of the initial distribution of two hundred thirty million dollars of assets by the authority to the Lewis and Clark discovery fund created in section 173.392, the director of the department of economic development shall allocate to and reserve for the authority during the year of such first distribution and in at least each of the next fourteen years thereafter a percentage of the state ceiling under sections 108.500 to 108.532, which percentage shall at a minimum be equal to one and one-half percent less than the average percentage of the authority’s allocation of state ceiling for the two calendar years 2005 and 2006 calculated annually. The dollar amount of state ceiling to be received by the authority as determined under the provisions of this subsection for calendar year 2014 and later years, not to exceed calendar year 2021, shall be reduced in any calendar year by the percentage of the three hundred fifty million dollars not yet distributed by the authority to the Lewis and Clark discovery fund by the preceding calendar year end.