The House Select Committee on Community Safety is scheduled to hear testimony on bills that would change how people buy firearms and how authorities report those purchases. One of these bills would raise the minimum age to 21 years old to purchase certain semi-automatic rifles.
Joseph “Joe” Moody
Uvalde police officer criticized for checking his phone was waiting to hear from his dying wife
“I couldn’t say nothing seeing this man, who’s lost everything, maligned as if he was indifferent or actively malicious,” Rep. Joe Moody, a member of the Uvalde House Investigating Committee, said on Twitter.
House Speaker Dade Phelan announces legislative committee to investigate Uvalde shooting
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.
Watch state Reps. Jeff Leach and Joe Moody discuss lawmakers’ criminal justice work at The Texas Tribune Festival
Leach, a Plano Republican, and Moody, an El Paso Democrat, co-chair the House Criminal Justice Caucus.
As Islamic holidays near, Texas Muslims back bill creating a more inclusive calendar for government employees
Texas Muslims view a recently introduced bill offering government employees days off for Islamic holidays as a step toward inclusivity.
In economic crisis, Texas Democrats push to legalize marijuana. Key Republicans likely stand in the way.
State lawmakers argue that the tax revenue and jobs created by a retail market for cannabis could help the state devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Texas Democrats from the border team up for new PAC in effort to flip the state House
The group, Corazón de la Frontera PAC, is being organized by El Paso Rep. Joe Moody, the House speaker pro tem.
Greg Abbott has condemned the death of George Floyd, but he’s been silent on Texas’ recent history of police killings
Abbott also has praised Texas’ “legacy of success” on criminal justice reforms. In recent years, many police reform efforts have repeatedly failed at the Texas Capitol.
Point of Order: Roll credits
In the last episode of our podcast about the 86th Texas Legislature, Evan Smith talks to House Speaker Pro Tem Joe Moody and Senate President Pro Tem Kirk Watson about what state lawmakers did for us and to us this session — and what they’ll do next.
Despite bipartisan support, Texas bill tackling intellectual disability in death penalty cases fails
Negotiators in the House and Senate couldn’t come to an agreement on a bill addressing how Texas handles capital murder defendants who may be intellectually disabled. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executing people with intellectual disabilities amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.


