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.

On the latest Agenda Texas, from KUT News and the Tribune: As another round of deadlines in the Capitol approaches, several legislative priorities are still unresolved.

At Thursday's TribLive conversation, state Reps. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth; Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford; and Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, explained their objection to dipping into the Rainy Day Fund to jump-start the state water plan. 

Spending from the state's Rainy Day Fund does, in fact, count against a constitutional limit on growth in the state budget, Attorney General Greg Abbott advised on Thursday. 

On the latest Agenda Texas, from KUT News and the Tribune: Water, transportation and education were priorities at the beginning of this year's legislative session, but how much progress has been made on each?

The legislative session is in its last month and most bills will die. But setbacks for the big stuff — water, transportation and the like — are usually temporary.

At Thursday's TribLive conversation, Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples explained his strong reluctance to use money from the Rainy Day Fund to jump-start the state water plan.

The best way to finance Texas' pressing water and transportation needs — and to supplement spending on public education — is to let voters decide whether to use the state's Rainy Day Fund.

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.

In this edition of the Newsreel: The conversation in West turns to regulation, the Senate wants to ask voters to use Rainy Day Fund money, the House undoes the state lottery and then puts it back together, and some Texas prosecutors are in hot water.

At our 4/26 Hot Seat conversation at Southwestern University in Georgetown, state Rep. Marsha Farney, R-Georgetown, and state Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, talked about public education, water, the budget and other issues in play in the 83rd session.

After spending most of the day locked away in negotiations, the Senate unanimously approved a measure pulling $5.7 billion from the Rainy Day Fund for water and road projects and public education.

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. 

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 Rainy Day Fund has been used for public education before and should be used for it now — to reverse drastic cuts made in education spending during the 2011 legislative session.

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.

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.