(a) An amendment to Article IX of the Constitution of Pennsylvania was adopted by the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on May 16, 1967, which reads as follows:

“Section 25. In addition to the purposes stated in article nine, section four of this Constitution, the Commonwealth may be authorized by law to create a debt and issue bonds in the amount of five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000) for a Land and Water Conservation and Reclamation Fund to be used for the conservation and reclamation of land and water resources of the Commonwealth, including the elimination of acid mine drainage, sewage, and other pollution from the streams of the Commonwealth, the provision of State financial assistance to political subdivisions and municipal authorities of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the construction, reconstruction and improvement of sewage treatment plants, the restoration of abandoned strip-mined areas, the control and extinguishment of surface and underground mine fires, the alleviation and prevention of subsidence resulting from mining operations, and the acquisition of additional lands and the reclamation and development of park and recreational lands acquired pursuant to the authority of article nine, section twenty-four of this Constitution, subject to such conditions and liabilities as the General Assembly may prescribe.”

(b) Pursuant to the permission granted by the constitutional amendment hereinabove set forth, the Governor, Auditor General and State Treasurer are hereby authorized and directed to borrow, from time to time, on the credit of the Commonwealth and subject to the conditions and limitations of this act, money not exceeding in the aggregate the sum of five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000), as may be found necessary to carry out the purposes of the aforesaid amendment, and statutes passed in conformity therewith.