The Kansas Senate approved a bill March 26 to use bonds, federal funds and sales tax revenue to protect projects promised under the state’s transportation program.

Senators voted 30-10 in favor of a proposal – SB515 – that would permit the state to issue up to $150 million in bonds, then set aside $395 million in sales tax revenue over three years, The Wichita Eagle reported.

The goal is to shore up the state’s 10-year comprehensive transportation program, enacted in 1999. The Republican-led plan assumes the state will receive $300 million in additional federal funds over six years.

A similar measure – HB2918 – cleared the House March 23. It also contained the GOP plan, but lawmakers added a provision to allow the state to issue an additional $90 million in bonds if federal funds fell short of expectations.

No such provision for additional bonds is contained in the Senate bill.

Both bills depend on keeping Kansas’ sales tax at 5.3 percent, rather than letting it dip to 5 percent in July 2006 as lawmakers had promised when they raised it in 2001 to help balance the budget.

Transportation Secretary Deb Miller has said if no bill passes this year, she will have to cancel $150 million worth of projects this summer and an additional $100 million each year into 2008, the newspaper reported.

Miller said she was glad the Senate approved its bill by a large margin but would like to see the provision for additional bonds should federal funds fall short of expectations.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, has offered a plan that relies on issuing $465 million in bonds and earmarking $264 million in sales tax revenue to shore up the highway program. Her plan made no assumptions about additional federal dollars.