Topeka ? State senators Wednesday approved issuing bonds to build research facilities at the state’s three major public universities, including Kansas University.

It was one of two pieces of legislation the regents sought that won Senate approval Wednesday. Senators also approved a bill addressing lingering questions from the state’s 1999 reorganization of higher education.

The Senate sent the research facilities measure to the House on a 37-3 vote.

Sen. Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, the bill’s sponsor, called the bill “one of the most important pieces of legislation we have considered in many years.”

He said the projects are needed to help Kansas stay at the forefront of research and increase its share of federal research dollars.

The measure would help fund a biomedical center at KU, a food-safety lab at Kansas State University and an aerospace engineering lab at Wichita State University.

The price tag had been set at $110 million but was recently increased to a maximum of $130 million. Lawmakers said they increased it because the state may be able to buy more bonds than previously thought with current low interest rates.

Under the proposal, the state would pay back $50 million of the bonds and the universities would be responsible for paying back the rest.

Another portion of the bill would authorize an additional $13 million in bonds requested by the aircraft industry to make improvements at an aircraft research laboratory at WSU. The state would commit to helping fund that lab by $7 million during a four-year period.

Kansas Board of Regents Chairman Clay Blair said his focus during the legislative session has been on getting approval of the research bill and several other higher education proposals.

With those measures progressing through the Legislature, he said, “We will turn our full focus and attention on the budget issues.”

The other measure, passed and sent to the House on a 40-0 vote, defines the Board of Regents’ powers in overseeing universities, community colleges and technical schools  and in allocating money to them.

The 1999 law shifted control of community colleges and technical schools from the State Board of Education to the Board of Regents.

The reorganization was supposed to promote efficiency and accountability by having the regents set goals for individual institutions, then allocate funds based on how well the goals are met. But some confusion arose as the reorganization was put in place.

This year’s bill clarifies the regents’ role in monitoring whether institutions meet their goals.