NOBULL: Kansas gov. wants to spend $1.15 billion in possible destruction of livestock industry

Kansas gov. budgets over $200 million in bonds for NBAF

Brett Wessler, Staff Writer | Updated: 05/01/2013
Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposed adjustment to the Kansas state budget includes $202 million in bonds to help construct the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility at Kansas State University.

The $1.15 billion facility to be built in Manhattan, Kan. will also receive $714 million from President Obama’s federal budget.
The Associated Press reports the bonds proposed by Brownback would be the last of the money the state of Kansas has to contribute to the building according to the finance negotiations set in 2009. The state agreed to pay 20 percent of the construction costs and has already contributed $140 million.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports select state legislators have pushed back on money budgeted for the facility because of the state’s debt and the total cost of the NBAF project.
Construction for the facility is scheduled to begin next May, but Congress has yet to approve federal funds.