Two years ago, lawmakers couldn't find the money they needed to run the government they had promised their voters. Now they have the money — and a completely different set of political problems. 

With less than a month remaining in the legislative session, Gov. Rick Perry met with the Texas House GOP Caucus and talked to reporters about his support for a bill that would draw $2 billion from the Rainy Day Fund for water infrastructure needs.

Gov. Rick Perry is warning state legislators that it could be a long, hot summer in Austin if they don’t pass his top priorities: funding water and transportation projects and cutting business taxes. 

A debate in the Texas House on a supplemental budget bill Friday veered into debates on the Travis County district attorney's drunken driving charge and the murder of two Kaufman County prosecutors.

Despite voting a second time in favor of continuing the Texas Lottery Commission on Wednesday, the majority of House members made clear that they would like to study how to wind down the agency.

As lawmakers debate how much money to leave in the state's Rainy Day Fund, Gov. Rick Perry is relying on a very specific figure: 7.5 percent. 

UPDATED: After unexpectedly voting to end the Texas Lottery Commission earlier Tuesday, the Texas House reversed course Tuesday afternoon with a vote to continue the commission.

For this week’s nonscientific survey of insiders in government and politics, we asked about transportation and, more specifically, how to pay for expansion and maintenance of the state’s transportation infrastructure. 

The House on Monday sent five members to negotiate a budget with the Senate, with instructions to avoid anything that looks like it would expand the state's Medicaid program. 

Aaronson tracks the latest on Medicaid expansion, Aguilar on lawmakers’ openness to driving permits for non-citizens, Batheja on surprising support for higher state spending, Root and Galbraith on the state’s search for answers after the West explosion, M. Smith covers the debate over high school standards, Grissom finds a shadow payroll at the Capitol, Hamilton on the man with a plan at UT, Rocha spots a special deal for lawmakers accused of crimes, KUT’s Philpott on obstacles to road funding and Ramshaw on the privileges of legislative membership: The best of our best for the week of April 15-19, 2013.

The House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved an $874.9 million supplemental budget bill Thursday that includes $500 million more for schools and covers bills for last year's wildfires.

A couple of Democrats won election in 2012 talking about education, but that doesn't mean the issue was a silver bullet for the minority party. Lots of others talked about it and lost, and the two who won were victorious in districts favorable to them.

On the latest Agenda Texas, from KUT News and the Tribune: Lawmakers want to spend billions to repair the state's crumbling roads, but that's putting some Republican leaders in a bind.

The state's Rainy Day Fund should be kept as insurance against real financial downturns. If the state needs money for water programs, it should get that money by cutting other programs that are less important.

It's proper to use the state's Rainy Day Fund for a $2 billion water plan, but it isn't necessary until 2015, and using it now would force lawmakers to bust the constitutional cap on budget growth.

Using the Rainy Day Fund now will help address the state's water needs and keep general state spending on water down for decades to come.

Three days after the governor raised the possibility of new revenue streams — including the issuing of 100-year bonds — to fund transportation, members of Texas Tea Parties warned legislators against caving on conservative principles.

Gov. Rick Perry on Friday said he likes the idea of dedicating a portion of future car sales taxes to road projects and also said he's open to spending up to $6 billion of the Rainy Day Fund on infrastructure projects.