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KS Senate Votes to Approve Additional NBAF Bonds

The Kansas Senate has given first-round approval to a bill that would issue $200 million in additional state bonds to help pay for a federal research lab to be built in Manhattan.

The National Bio and Agro- Defense Facility, known as NBAF, will study diseases that could affect the U.S. agriculture industry. The bill passed with bipartisan support.

Anthony Hensley, the top Democrat in the Senate, said this was a positive move.

“I think it’s a good follow-up in this federal/state partnership that we pass this bill to obviously show in good faith that we’re willing to partner with the federal government,” Hensley said.

A Senate committee added a provision saying the state would only issue the bonds if the federal government pays its share of the more than $1 billion in construction costs. President Obama put more than $700 million in his budget proposal to build the lab.