The Kansas State Finance Council, which is composed of lawmakers and Governor Sam Brownback, has delayed issuing bonds for a federal disease lab being built in Manhattan.
The bonds will help construct the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, or NBAF. Stephen Koranda reports...
Lawmakers have approved a total of $300 million in state bonds.
They have stipulations, saying the state wouldn't be responsible for cost overruns and the bonds wouldn't be issued until the federal governments supplies its full share of the cost, which hasn't happened yet.
State Senator Terry Bruce says the State Finance Council decides if those requirements are met, and they should wait to issue the bonds.
"And that's what I propose to do. Because of that, I don't intend on voting for anything that issues more bonds for this project until the federal government has appropriated the appropriate funds," says Bruce.
The governor's chief of staff, Landon Fulmer, says the federal government could approve the last of its funding soon for the project. He says delaying the state bonds is not a setback for NBAF.
