BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska state lawmaker says Gage County has violated the state constitution by housing inmates across the state line in Kansas.

Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers has asked the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office to issue a legal opinion on a contract approved by the Gage County Board of Supervisors in late September.

The one-year contract reserves 10 beds in the Washington County, Kansas, jail for Gage County inmates, at a cost of $246,000 a year.

Chambers said in a letter Wednesday to the attorney general that it’s a violation of the Nebraska Constitution to transport an inmate to another state for any offense committed in Nebraska.

Gage County Board Chairman Myron Dorn declined to comment on Chambers’ allegation.