Legislation to fund a veterans nursing home in Bowling Green passed the state Senate on Thursday.

Introduced by state Sens. Mike Wilson, R-Bowling Green; and C.B. Embry Jr., R-Morgantown, the legislation passed 37-0 in the Senate. The state House measure, House Bill 13, was approved Feb. 23 by that body.

It is likely the companion bill filed in the House by Rep. Michael Meredith, R-Brownsville, will be the one to receive final approval, Wilson said in a text message.

Meredith’s bill will get a Senate committee hearing next week.

Wilson said he filed his legislation to draw attention to the need for nursing beds.

“A feasibility study showed southcentral Kentucky has the most need,” Wilson told fellow senators in a floor speech.

State Sen. Brandon Smith, R-Hazard, filed an amendment asking that any future veterans nursing home beds allocated from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or reallocated from the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs be dedicated to a veterans nursing home in Magoffin County. Meredith’s legislation was approved with the same caveat.

Smith’s amendment was adopted on a voice vote. Smith said on the Senate floor that in western Kentucky there are 400 veterans per nursing home bed, but in eastern Kentucky that number climbs to 800 veterans per bed.

“It’s a slam dunk for eastern Kentucky,” Smith said.

He said his amendment shows the legislature is “awake at the wheel” and recognizes the need for a veterans center in Magoffin County.

The Senate bill would fund $10.5 million in state bond funds for a veterans nursing home to be built at the Kentucky Transpark. That money, of which the state would pay $897,000 in debt service on the bonds in 2017-18, would be the state match if the nursing home is funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The federal government approved the Bowling Green veterans nursing home two years ago but hasn’t funded it, Wilson said.

That state debt share amount assumes 5.5 percent interest and a 20-year repayment term on the newly issued bonds, according to state fiscal note filed with the legislation. The fiscal note added that the state debt service will be paid from one of two sources: the general fund surplus account or the budget reserve trust fund.

The federal share for the project is $19.5 million.

State Sen. Robin L. Webb, D-Grayson, submitted and then withdrew an amendment Thursday asking that the need for a state veterans nursing home be studied by the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs for Boyd, Carter and Greenup counties. Webb noted in the amendment that those three counties have “a significant veterans population that is currently unserved by any of the state veterans center.”

Webb’s amendment noted those Kentucky counties have nearby access to a VA hospital in Huntington, W.Va., “just across the bridge.”

“We take exception to the rankings in the feasibility study,” Webb said.

Since the lawmakers are declaring the bill to be an emergency, it would take effect immediately if Gov. Matt Bevin signs it.