Topeka ? Gov. Bill Graves signed a $4.4 billion budget into law Tuesday after removing an obstacle to placing a statue of a Kansa Indian atop the Statehouse dome.

The bill contains most of the appropriations for the state’s 2003 fiscal year, which begins July 1. Graves had few objections to its contents.

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But he vetoed a provision that would have prohibited the Department of Administration from spending money to reinforce the dome to support the 20-foot “Ad Astra” statue of the Indian, drawing his bow to the sky.

“He’s been a longtime supporter of Ad Astra,” said Graves spokesman Don Brown.

The work, by Salina sculptor Richard Bergen, was chosen in a design contest sponsored by the Kansas Arts Commission in 1988. Its name comes from the state motto, “Ad astra per aspera” “To the stars through difficulties.”

A dedication of the statue originally was set for July 4, 1990. However, opposition from legislators and others and the cost of reinforcing the dome has prevented the statue from going up.

This year, some legislators wanted to prevent spending tax dollars on the project, in part because they were forced to increase taxes $252 million. Others did not want the project to be included in a $135 million, eight-year renovation of the Statehouse, financed by bonds.

The House added the provision to the budget. Rep. Melvin Neu-feld, R-Ingalls, said he supported it because he doesn’t believe a historic structure should be modified through a “popularity contest.”

A 1,000-watt light bulb now adorns the top of the Statehouse.

A 1901 plan called for a statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, but over the decades, legislators have objected, saying the state doesn’t want to honor a pagan deity.

In a message to legislators, Graves said the provision was “unnecessary and unduly restrictive.”

While plans call for the statue to be atop the dome in early October, its placement still is not a certainty. Ben Bauman, spokesman for the Department of Administration, said reinforcing the dome would cost about $700,000 and “there have been no funds identified.”

If Ad Astra is placed on the dome this fall, Kansas would become the second state with a statue of an Indian atop its Statehouse.

Oklahoma plans to put “The Guardian” atop its dome in June. That statehouse didn’t have a dome after its completion in 1917, but officials there decided to add one in 2000.