State lawmakers would spend $3.2 billion for public education and $2 billion for water funding under plans being worked out by budget leaders, House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts said Tuesday.

State Rep. John Zerwas, a budget conferee, said Monday he’s relatively confident that a rider stipulating the Legislature's preferred Medicaid reform terms for any deal with the federal government would stick to the 2014-15 budget.

Multiple amendments to the budget pre-filed by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, would limit the spending authority of the University of Texas System regents.

The $193.8 billion budget approved by the House Appropriations Committee includes an extra $2.5 billion for public education. The bill is smaller than the Senate budget by about $1.7 billion.

House members unanimously approved a bill largely devoted to addressing a shortfall in Medicaid. Health providers for poor children and the disabled in Texas won't get paid starting Thursday unless Gov. Rick Perry signs the bill soon.

With little debate on Thursday, House lawmakers passed House Bill 10, an emergency supplemental appropriations bill that needs to get to Gov. Rick Perry's desk by next month to avoid bills owed to medical workers going unpaid.

Full video of my 1/31 TribLive conversation with state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, and state Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie.

At Thursday's TribLive conversation, state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, and state Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, talked about how the school finance litigation affects the debate over public education funding.

At Thursday morning's TribLive conversation, state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, and state Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, talked about the possibility of withdrawals from the Rainy Day Fund.