Only one Democrat taking part in the quorum break was absent from the panel as the group discussed five bills and the chair vowed their work would go on.

Supporters said the proposal, which sought to amend the state constitution, would improve safety. Critics said it would violate due process and unfairly target minority groups.

Some measures that made it through before midnight dealt with jail bonds, an unconstitutional ban on gay sex, and the liability of vaccine manufacturers.

Attorney General Ken Paxton sought to delay legal proceedings until Jan. 13 — the day before the committee disbands — even as lawmakers vowed to continue fighting to hear from Roberson.

Texas lawmakers have again subpoenaed the testimony of death row inmate Robert Roberson.

The new subpoena comes after lawmakers say Ken Paxton’s office stalled a previous effort to get Roberson’s legislative testimony about his conviction in “shaken baby” case.

Lawmakers on the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence still want to hear from death row inmate, Robert Roberson. The committee’s chair plans to issue another subpoena for Roberson’s testimony.

With Roberson’s options dwindling, a House panel used its bully pulpit to prove his case and excoriate the failures of the state’s junk science law.

Uvalde’s former school police chief has been booked and released from jail following a grand jury investigation into the police response during the Robb Elementary School shooting in 2022.

It was a night of frustration, retaliation and, for some, elation as the stroke of midnight spelled doom for a lot of legislation.

A Texas lawmaker introduced an amendment that would have revived a proposal to raise the minimum age to buy certain semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21 before it was ultimately withdrawn.

Families whose children were killed in the Uvalde school shooting heard the news after waiting all day to testify on a gun regulation bill in a state House committee hearing.

Plagued by decades of scandals over sexual and physical abuse of children, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department is at a crossroads.

State Rep. Joe Moody rushed to the site of a mass shooting in his city in 2019, then warned House colleagues that it would happen again as they passed a permitless carry bill. Now he’s at the center of the investigation into the Uvalde massacre.

The House committee investigating the Uvalde school shooting said it intended to publish the report in both languages but was unable to get it translated before a meeting last Sunday when the English version was released.

The chair of the House committee investigating the police response to the Robb Elementary School shooting said Uvalde police will cooperate with the investigation. A day prior, Republican State Rep. Dustin Burrows told reporters that cooperation was a question mark.

The state House committee investigating the police response to the mass murders at Robb Elementary School held its first session in Uvalde Thursday. All testimony given to the committee was done behind closed doors.

During a Texas Tribune event, Democratic state Reps. Joe Moody and Claudia Ordaz Perez and state Sen. César Blanco said the Uvalde school shooting and the overturning of Roe v. Wade demand action in the Texas Legislature.

Some Texas lawmakers and advocates are concerned that law enforcement authorities will use a legal loophole to block the release of further information related to the mass shooting at an elementary school.

State Rep. Dustin Burrows, the chair of the investigating committee, said he couldn’t promise a timeline for the review and that witnesses will be questioned in private.

Phelan said it is an “outrage” that officials still do not have a clear picture of what happened during the shooting. The committee’s findings will inform the House’s legislative response.

Seven Texas lawmakers who traveled hundreds of miles to update death row inmate Melissa Lucio on their efforts to stop her execution were able to connect with her through embrace and prayer.

Leach, a Plano Republican, and Moody, an El Paso Democrat, co-chair the House Criminal Justice Caucus.

“There’s been some significant — if not irreparable — damage to the relationships within the body,” said state Rep. Justin Holland, R-Rockwall.

Moody, one of House Speaker Dade Phelan's closest Democratic allies, is the first Democrat to suffer political backlash after the quorum break.

State Rep. Joe Moody, a Democrat from El Paso, said a special legislative session already planned for later this year should also address gun violence.

State Rep. Terry Canales of Edinburg has proposed putting the question of legalization to Texas voters. And even less controversial measures, like lowering criminal penalties for marijuana possession, have fallen flat in the Texas Senate. Dan Patrick, a staunch conservative, at the helm of the upper chamber, it remains unlikely that a legalization bill will make it out when the Legislature reconvenes in January. But given the state of the economy and more states following the trend to legalize and tax cannabis, they said action was needed. A report by the American Civil Liberties Union found that, in 2018, Black people in Texas were 2.6 times more likely to be arrested on suspicion of marijuana possession than white people.

State Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, listens to public testimony in 2019. Credit: Emree Weaver/The Texas TribuneState Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, filed Tuesday for Texas House speaker, becoming the eighth candidate in what’s quickly become a crowded race. In a statement, Moody said he was running to change the "impenetrable and transactional" nature of the House. Moody joins fellow Democratic state Reps. Oscar Longoria of Mission, Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio and Senfronia Thompson of Houston in the race. Candidates are running to replace GOP House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, who will retire at the end of his term after a political scandal last year. Morrison has picked up support from state Rep. John Cyrier — a Lockhart Republican who filed for speaker Thursday but withdrew from the race the next day — and state Rep. Phil King, a Weatherford Republican who chairs the powerful House Redistricting Committee.

Lawmakers from the border say they are teaming up to influence the 2020 race for control of the Texas House. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneA group of Democrats representing the state's border with Mexico in the Texas House has launched a new political group to unify their ranks and pitch in on the fight for the lower-chamber majority this November. The House speaker pro tem, Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso, is helping organize and serving as the treasurer of the group, Corazón de la Frontera PAC, or "Heart of the Border." The PAC plans to help statewide by aiding freshman Democrats in their reelection bids as well as Democrats running to flip open seats in battleground districts. Democrats are currently nine seats away from the majority in the House, following their gain of 12 seats in 2018.

Of the 17 House members who have called for Bonnen to step down, only four are Democrats.