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A public authority is a public corporation chartered by a state designed to perform some public service, such as the maintenance of public infrastructure. It often has broad powers to regulate or maintain public property. In some jurisdictions the term public benefit corporations is used, not to be confused with for-profit benefit corporations. In this article we use these terms interchangeably.

Authories borrow from both municipal corporations law (that is, the laws responsible for the creation of cities, towns, and other forms of local government) and private corporations law. Other public authorities resemble private non-profit organizations, and take on roles that private corporations might otherwise perform. These corporations often operate in heavily regulated industries, such as broadcasting and transportation.

Corporations such as these are often found in common law jurisdictions such as Commonwealth countries, including Canadian provinces and U.S. states.

Origins
Although many associate corporations, sometimes negatively, with private business, corporations in theory began as means to serve public purposes. Corporate theory has its roots in primarily government and religious institutions, where the institution itself is identifiable independently of its membership's mortality. For example, if the Pope dies, the Catholic Church continues to exist, just as it continues to exist as generations pass on and get replaced by new members.

Public benefit corporations likely have their direct roots in mercantile capitalism. In the early days of European exploration and colonization, a government or monarch would sometimes grant a charter to an entity allowing it to incorporate and make potentially risky investments. While certainly not public benefit corporations by today's standards, entities such as the Massachusetts Bay Company, Hudson Bay Company, and the Dutch East India Company arguably are early prototypes of publically-chartered (in this case, crown-chartered) corporations successfully making risky investments.

History
The first public authority on record is the Port of London Authority, established 1908. According to the Port of London Acts The Authority is a public trust established to ‘administer, preserve and improve the Port of London.’ The goal was to create an entity that would be run self-sufficiently like a private company yet remain under the control of the government. The name Authority is derived from the founding act of Parliament which repeatedly stated that "Authority is hereby given . . ."

Incorporation and powers
Public benefit corporations are generally governed by boards of directors, which are appointed, rather than elected, and, internally, reflect bureaucratic forms. The corporation is government-owned and performs a specific, narrow function for the public good.

Public benefit corporations are most often created by statute. In many Commonwealth countries, public benefit corporations continue to receive charters from the British monarchy. In the United States, they receive their charters from states or the federal government.

Public authorities are usually created with a specific mandate, such as the construction of bridges, mass transit, etc. Unlike departments or ministries of the state, these corporations usually are enabled by statute to raise revenues through bond issues.

For more information, read below about individual jurisdictions.

United Kingdom
The BBC is a public benefit crown corporation in the United Kingdom. Many universities have charters going back centuries, and these too are in theory corporations.

Public authorities include:
 * Port of London Authority
 * Transport for London

Canada
VIA Rail in Canada is an independent crown corporation offering intercity passenger rail services in Canada. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is another example.

The Province of Ontario shares two international public benefit corporations with U.S. state of New York:
 * Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority (also known as the Peace Bridge Authority)–international authority that maintains the Peace Bridge link between Buffalo, New York, and Fort Erie, Ontario.
 * Niagara Falls Bridge Commission –international public authority controlling various bridges in the Niagara Falls. The Board of Commissioners has eight members, four appointed by the Ontario Premier and four by the Governor of New York State.

United States
Under the United States Constitution, per the United States Supreme Court, the United States federal government is an entity of limited sovereignty that can only exercise those powers conferred upon it by the Constitution. The several states, on the other hand, have unlimited sovereignty. They can exercise any power that is not transferred to the federal government under the terms of the U.S. Constitution, provided it is not prohibited to them under their own constitutions.

Since the U.S. Constitution does not explicitly or implicitly empower the Government of the United States to create corporations outside of the confines of the federal government, the power to define and create corporations (other than as agencies of the U.S. government) is reserved to the individual states.

Private corporations were not so common in the early United States as they are today; corporations were often founded to create a public purpose, such as the maintenance of a toll bridge. Today, public benefit corporations are popular in some states in the United States, perhaps especially New York State. Many interstate compacts in the United States are public benefit corporations.

Public benefit corporations created, owned and operated by the U.S. Government include Amtrak, the United States Postal Service and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Many public authorities in the United States are interstate compacts.

Calfironia

 * Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Delaware
The Delaware River and Bay Authority controls the Delaware Memorial Bridge between Delaware and New Jersey, and is a bi-state agency created by an interstate compact with New Jersey.

Flordia
Miami-Dade Transit

Illinois
The Bi-State Development Agency is a bi-state agency managing public transportation between southern Illinois and Missouri. It serves the St. Louis metropolitan area.

Maine
In the state of Maine, public benefit corporations :
 * are designated as a public benefit corporation by statute; or
 * are tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; or
 * are organized for a public or charitable purpose and is required to distribute assets to a similar tax exempt organization upon dissolution; or
 * have elected to be a public benefit corporation.

Maryland

 * Maryland Transit Administration

Massachusetts

 * Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
 * Massachusetts Port Authority
 * Massachusetts Turnpike Authority

Missouri
See Bi-State Development Agency.

New Jersey
The New Jersey Turnpike Authority is a public benefit corporation in New Jersey.

The Delaware River and Bay Authority controls the Delaware Memorial Bridge between Delaware and New Jersey, and is a bi-state agency. The Delaware River Port Authority is a bi-state agency of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is a bi-state agency shared with New York.

Although "Public Benefit Corporation" is not a statutorily defined term under New Jersey Statutes or the New Jersey Administrative Code, such corporations are among those included within the statutorily defined term "State Agency".

New Hampshire

 * Manchester Transit Authority (New Hampshire)

New York State
The widespread use of public authorities in the United States was pioneered in New York State by Robert Moses. The approval of the New York State Public Authorities Control Board is required in some cases), and may levy taxes and tolls.  This means that they are not part of the usual state budgetary process, and gives them a certain independence.  Furthermore, they may make contracts; because of public authorities' corporate status, there is, generally, no remedy against the chartering State for the breach of such contracts.  John Grace & Co. v. State University Constr. Fund, 44 N.Y.2d 84, 375 N.E.2d 377; 404 N.Y.S.2d 316 (1978).  On the other hand, as agents of the state, public authorities are not subject to many laws governing private corporations, and are not subject to municipal regulation.  Employees of public authorities usually are not state employees, but are employees of the Authority.  Ciulla v. State, 191 Misc. 528; 77 N.Y.S.2d 545; (NY Court of Claims, 1948).  Public authorities can also often condemn property. See Generally 87 NY Jur PUBLIC AUTHORITIES Section 1 ''et. seq..

Among the major public benefit corporations in New York State, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (actually a bi-state agency) and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which manages most of the public transportation to, in, and around New York City, might be the most famous. New York has hundreds of lesser-known public benefit corporations. In the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has been receiving a lot of press.

New York likely has the most extensive number of public benefit corporations in the United States.


 * See New York State public benefit corporations

Pennsylvania
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) provides public transportation in and around Philadelphia.

The Delaware River Port Authority is a bi-state agency of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Tennessee

 * Tennessee Valley Authority

Texas

 * Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas
 * Port of Houston

Vermont
Like Maine, the state of Vermont defines public benefit corporations broadly. They include public benefit corporations founded by the state and by private entities. The Vermont Economic Development Authority is an example of a state-owned public benefit corporation.

Washington

 * Port of Seattle

Other meanings
More broadly, a public-benefit corporation could be any corporation that exists for a charitable purpose, though these are generally called non-profit corporations if they aren't founded by a government. Some jurisdictions (the U.S. State of Maine, for instance) might define a public benefit corporation broadly. In California, public benefit corporations are one of several types of non-profit corporations.