TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The two state mental hospitals in Kansas would receive an additional $3 million total in their current budgets under a proposal approved by a legislative committee.

The House Appropriations Committee added the money Thursday to budget legislation to help Larned and Osawtomie state hospitals fill staff vacancies and address other issues.

A total of more than 350 positions are vacant at the two hospitals, or about 38 percent.

Republican Rep. Will Carpenter of El Dorado said his proposal would let the Department on Aging and Disability Services determine how the extra money would be spent at the hospitals.

A critical survey of the Osawatomie hospital in November prompted the federal government to decertify it, costing the state between $500,000 and $1 million a month in federal funds.