Topeka ? Kansas could issue $1 billion in bonds to bolster the short-term financial health of its pension system for teachers and government workers under a compromise that emerged Tuesday from legislative negotiators.

Three senators and three House members agreed on a plan that’s less aggressive than Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposal to authorize $1.5 billion in bonds. His plan also would have reduced annual state contributions to public pensions to help balance the budget through June 2017, and the legislative proposal saves about half as much, $64 million over two years.

Both chambers could vote on the compromise plan this week. Brownback’s budget director, Shawn Sullivan, said the administration had not seen the new proposal.

Bonds would give the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System an infusion of cash, immediately narrowing a long-term gap in the funding for retirement benefits. Supporters believe KPERS will earn significantly more from investing the money raised than it will pay on the bonds.

The compromise bill would limit the state to paying 5 percent or less interest to bond investors, and House Pensions and Benefits Committee Chairman Steve Johnson, an Assaria Republican, said the interest rate could be as low as 4.4 percent. KPERS expects its investments to earn 8 percent annually.

The House passed a bill last week for $1.5 billion in bonds, and the Senate approved a plan last month for $1 billion. Legislative negotiators said they tried to pick an amount matching investors’ appetite.

“The billion gives what I think we’ll be able to invest with some efficiency over the next year,” Johnson said. “If the window is still open, and interest rates are still low a year from now or two years from now, we can certainly look at doing more.”

The state issued $500 million in pension bonds in 2004, paying almost 5.4 percent in interest while KPERS investment earnings have averaged 7.7 percent annually, even with the Great Recession of 2008-09. But this year’s effort has faced some skepticism from outside Kansas, and legislative critics still see it as risky.

KPERS already is on track to close a projected $9.8 billion gap between revenues and benefit costs from now until 2033, thanks to laws enacted in recent years. Those laws require increasing contributions to pensions by the state, and Brownback argues the payments are straining the budget.

Democratic Rep. Ed Trimmer, of Winfield, said lawmakers should let existing laws close the long-term funding gap. Terry Forsyth, a lobbyist for the state’s largest teachers’ union, said the bonding plan could allow the state to duck part of its financial commitment when employees have paid “their part” through paycheck deductions.

“The KPERS system is not a nice gift from the government,” Forsyth said. “It is deferred compensation.”

The governor’s plan assumed KPERS takes 10 years longer, until 2043, to close the long-term funding gap, reducing annual state contributions accordingly. Even with $90 million in annual bond payments, the state would have saved $132 million over two years.

Legislators’ plan would require annual bond payments of $60 million, with net savings in payments to KPERS of $64 million over two years.