Topeka ? Legislators have sent Gov. Sam Brownback a bill removing the Kansas Bioscience Authority’s role in issuing bonds to help finance a new national biodefense lab in Manhattan.

The state plans to issue $105 million in bonds to finance utility and street improvements for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility site. Authority to issue those bonds shifts from the KBA to the Department of Administration.

The bill, approved early Thursday, goes to the governor amid criticism over the authority’s operations and an investigation by the Johnson County district attorney. Authority officials dispute the criticism.

Backers of the lab say they don’t want questions about the Bioscience Authority’s operations to jeopardize federal funding for the $651 million biodefense lab project.