Oklahoma lawmakers get Kansas Capitol repair tips

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Officials in Oklahoma are getting some tips from their counterparts in Kansas before launching a multi-year, multi-million dollar restoration project on Oklahoma’s 100-year-old state Capitol.

More than a dozen Oklahoma lawmakers and managers of the Capitol restoration project traveled to Topeka, Kansas, this week to examine that state’s Capitol, where this year a nearly $330 million, 13-year restoration project was completed.

Officials who made the trip said those involved in the Kansas project encountered many of the same difficulties that officials expect to find in the Oklahoma Capitol. Deteriorated water, sewer and electrical lines will be replaced similar to Kansas’ Capitol.

The Oklahoma project has been placed on hold while the state Supreme Court decides whether a $120 million bond issue for the project is constitutional.