Topeka ? The Kansas House on Thursday gave preliminary approval to a bill that would authorize the issuance of $110 million in bonds to build research facilities at three public universities, including Kansas University.

The House approved the measure on a voice vote and will consider it for final passage Friday.

Rep. Kenny Wilk, R-Lansing, the bill’s sponsor, said he was confident it would gain final approval and go to the Senate for consideration.

Kansas Board of Regents Chairman Clay Blair, who listened to the vote from House Speaker Kent Glasscock’s office, was pleased with the House action.

“This is a great start for Kansas,” Blair said.

The measure would help finance construction of a biomedical center at KU, a food safety lab at Kansas State University and an aviation facility at Wichita State University.

Under the proposal, the state would pay off $50 million of the bonds and the universities would be responsible to pay off the rest.

Several attempts were made to delay consideration of the bill or tie the measure to higher education funding in general. But those efforts failed.

Two amendments were approved.

One would require that laborers on the projects be paid the prevailing wage, and the other would pay for the state’s portion of the bonds out of lottery revenue that is currently used for economic development projects.