Rhode Island General Laws Title 35. Public Finance § 35-13-3. Purpose

(a) The code provides that interest with respect to certain obligations may not be exempt from federal income taxation unless they are in registered form. It is therefore a matter of state concern that public entities be authorized to provide for the issuance of obligations in registered form. It is a purpose of this chapter to empower all public entities to establish and maintain a system pursuant to which obligations may be issued in registered form within the meaning of the applicable provisions of the code.

(b) Obligations have traditionally been issued in bearer rather than in registered form, and a change from bearer to registered form may affect the relationships, rights, and duties of issuers of and the persons that deal with obligations, and by this effect, the costs. These effects will impact the various issuers and varieties of obligations differently depending on their legal and financial characteristics, their markets, and their adaptability to recent and prospective technological and organizational developments. It is therefore a matter of state concern that public entities be provided flexibility in the development of systems of registration and control over system incidents, so as to accommodate these differing impacts. It is a purpose of this chapter to empower the establishment and maintenance, and amendment from time to time, of differing systems of registration of obligations, including system incidents, so as to accommodate the differing impacts upon issuers and varieties of obligations. It is further a purpose of this chapter to authorize systems that will facilitate the prompt and accurate transfer of registered public obligations and the developing of practices with regard to the registration and transfer of registered public obligations.