TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An organization that represents highway construction companies is warning that further raids on Kansas highway funds to pay for other government programs endanger the state’s highways.

Bob Totten, the executive vice president of the Kansas Contractors Association, says the group will lobby hard next year against any additional transfers out of the highway fund. And the association plans to work for candidates in next year’s elections who vow to protect highway funding.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports the state transferred about $300 million from the highway fund to the general fund this year, after making similar transfers in the recent years.

Kansas Department of Transportation Secretary Mike King says the state can afford to take money from the highway fund because many transportation projects have cost substantially less than expected.