This session, the Texas Association of Business put a focus on legislation related to criminal justice, as it advocated for bills aimed at helping ex-offenders get jobs. Here's a look at the bills the group helped pass and the ones that got away.

Texas is showing how unique it is when it comes to matters of immigration. Statistics say it has more undocumented immigrants in detention centers than any other state. And organizers of a virtual march for immigration reform say the state is the perfect spot to host related events.

UPDATED: The Texas House allowed the clock to run out Tuesday night on Senate Bill 11, an initiative that would have created a drug testing regimen for some welfare benefits.

UPDATED: The House on Tuesday tentatively approved a bill that would require a now-defunct legislative oversight committee to hire a third party to review solitary confinement conditions in Texas prisons and juvenile lockups.

The Texas House gave early approval on Tuesday to a requirement that the Department of Public Safety perform DNA testing on all biological evidence prior to the start of cases that involve the death penalty.

Police would have new authority to take firearms away from Texans who are in a mental crisis under a bill the House approved on Tuesday that is now headed to Gov. Rick Perry's desk.

The House on Monday approved Senate Bill 1185 by Sen. Joan Huffman, which would create a pilot program that connects mentally ill inmates with social, clinical, housing and welfare services during the first weeks after the person's release from jail. 

A battle over legislation that would create an innocence commission to review wrongful conviction has turned personal — and potentially deadly for a handful of bills authored by state Sen. Joan Huffman.

Correctional officers in a statewide union say that a 5 percent pay increase lawmakers have proposed in the state budget is not sufficient to stymie the corruption and reduce physical dangers they face every day. 

Police officers, oil and gas pipeline inspectors, news photographers, and movie producers may now all have access to drone footage under certain conditions in language added to legislation banning the use of unmanned aerial vehicles as it passed the Texas Senate. 

With exoneree Michael Morton by his side, Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday signed a measure that aims to avoid wrongful convictions by preventing prosecutors from suppressing evidence.

Two days after an advocate for a bill establishing a commission to review wrongful convictions lashed out at a state senator who voiced opposition to the bill, the measure's Senate sponsor says he doesn't have the votes to move the legislation forward.

Advocacy groups and business owners urged lawmakers to crack down on companies that misclassify their employees for tax and immigration purposes. But in the final days of the session, the measures have run out of steam.

A measure by state Rep. Allen Fletcher, R-Cypress, that allows college students, faculty and staff to carry concealed handguns on campus is heading to the full Senate after a committee approved the measure Tuesday.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has released a new video and an accompanying opinion piece describing the hundreds of migrants found dead every year near the Texas-Mexico border. But advocacy groups say Cornyn is part of the problem.

A Senate committee hearing turned explosive on Tuesday when the brother of a wrongfully convicted man who died in prison railed against a senator who opposes the creation of an innocence commission.

House lawmakers on Tuesday approved two bills meant to ensure that wrongful convictions, like the one that Michael Morton behind bars for nearly 25 years, don't happen to others. The measures will stop next on Gov. Rick Perry's desk.

To address a gap between Texas law and a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, a House panel Monday approved a bill to allow life sentences with parole eligibility after 40 years for defendants younger than 18 charged with capital murder.

On the 50th anniversary of the landmark Brady v. Maryland decision, the Texas House is set to vote on a law that some legal experts say would ensure that the ruling’s tenets are carried out to help prevent wrongful convictions. 

UPDATED: The legislation authored by Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, that would require court approval for most requests to view or copy crime scene photos that show murder victims passed the Senate Monday without debate.