Meet the candidates for Texas House District 98 in the Nov. 5 general election
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Republican Incumbent Giovanni Capriglione is facing Democrat Scott Bryan White in the November general election.
Capriglione, who owns Texas Adventure Capital LLC, was elected to the Texas House in 2012. He did not respond to the Star-Telegram’s candidate questionnaire, but on his website, fiscal discipline, being a “pro-life champion” and ending illegal immigration.
White, a retired IT consultant, lists public school funding, opposing school vouchers, and allowing Texans to vote on “a ballot amendment that guarantees reproductive health rights” as his top three priorities.
House District 98 includes Colleyville, Keller, Westlake, Grapevine, most of Southlake and part of Euless.
Giovanni Capriglione
Political Party: Republican
Did not respond to candidate questionnaire.
Scott Bryan White
Age: 57
Campaign website: www.scottwhitetx.com
Best way for voters to reach you: Email me at scott@scottwhitetx.com
Occupation: IT Consultant (Retired)
Education: Texas Tech University B.B.A Finance
Have you run for elected office before?
No
Please list the highlights of your civic involvement/activism:
My wife and I moved to Southlake in 1997 and then next door to Grapevine in 2019. We raised our family here and supported the community and schools by participating in the PTO, Girl Scouts, and local church.
Have you ever been arrested, charged with a crime or otherwise been part of a criminal proceeding? If yes, please explain:
No
Have you been involved in a civil lawsuit or bankruptcy proceeding? If yes, please explain:
No
Who are your top three campaign contributors?
Michael Hoffman
Jennifer Karol
Scott Uhl
Why are you seeking this office?
After retiring in 2022, I saw Texas increasingly controlled by billionaire donors Tim Dunn and the Wilkes brothers, who fund politicians who restrict women’s access to healthcare and devalue our public schools. With my executive business consulting experience, I decided to step up and advocate for common-sense solutions that reflect our community’s interests. I am running to provide voters with an option to elect a candidate who will prioritize their interests over those of Greg Abbott and the West Texas oil billionaires.
What are your top 3 policy priorities?
My unwavering commitment to public school funding is a cornerstone of my priorities. I propose to increase the basic allotment from $6,180 to approximately $7,500 to account for six years of inflation, with ongoing adjustments for future inflation. The school funding model should be re-engineered in the long term to minimize taxes and ensure proper public school funding.
In addition, I am staunchly against school vouchers. Taxes levied for public schools should fund public schools, not private programs. This practice is wasteful conduct that harms our public education system.
My third policy priority is to allow Texans to vote on a ballot amendment that guarantees reproductive health rights. Texans have not had the opportunity to vote on our reproductive health laws. My opponent authored the 2021 Texas Abortion Trigger Ban.
Why should voters choose you over your opponent(s)?
My experience as a Fortune 500 executive enables me to solve complex issues with practical and sensible solutions. With a strong background in business process reengineering and expertise in ERP solutions for organizational transformation, I am uniquely equipped to tackle our community’s challenges. I am committed to listening to all perspectives, and I will always prioritize the interest of our district in every vote. If elected, I will be among the few former Fortune 500 executives in the Texas House of Representatives.
What is the biggest challenge facing the district where you’re running, and what is your plan to address it?
My focus is on the needs of our community. Carroll, Grapevine-Colleyville, Keller, and Hurst-Bedford-Euless ISDs are some of the best school districts in the state. State funding for public schools, set in 2019, has yet to be adjusted for inflation. Consequently, our ISDs are increasing tax rates, closing campuses, rezoning, and selling property. This funding crisis is a manufactured problem created by our current elected officials that threatens the quality of our schools and communities. We have paid our taxes, yet the state withholds funds to pass school vouchers.
How would you measure your success as a state legislator?
I would measure my success by executing three significant tasks:
Vote my district
Fund public schools
Defeat vouchers
Do you support vouchers or voucher-like programs, such as education savings accounts? Why or why not?
I oppose Vouchers, School Choice, Educational Savings Accounts (ESAs), or similar programs proposed by the Texas GOP. A voucher is a $10,000 incentive annually to subsidize private school tuition, amounting to $120,000 over twelve years per child. If passed, the government will spend over $4 billion of our surplus, and our taxes will need to rise. Meanwhile, we are still paying for all our public schools and infrastructure. School vouchers are a classic example of government waste and inefficiency. My opponent has voted in favor of vouchers twice.
What is your plan to fund Texas public schools?
My focus is on state-controlled Tier 1 maintenance and operations funding. I recommend following business best practices to create an ISD list of services with associated prices. Following this iteration, we would calculate the requisite funding using the number of enrolled students multiplied by the cost for each service.
The critical part of my plan is to automatically adjust the property tax rate for Tier 1 using the following formula: Aggregate all ISD funding, then multiply it by the proportion of funding derived from property taxes, and finally, divide this result by the total appraised property values in the state. This rate will precisely determine the tax revenue necessary to support our public schools sufficiently.
The result? Every public school would receive the proper amount of funding aligned to its unique needs, ensuring a fair and inclusive distribution of resources.
Has the state done enough to ensure a steady supply of electricity, even in tight grid conditions? What more should be done?
Connect the ERCOT power grid to the national grid to allow Texas to buy and sell electricity as needed. This solution would provide Texas with a cost-effective method of buffering extreme events such as the recent winter storms and summer heat waves. It will also give us a market for excess capacity.
What should the state do in the coming legislative session to address road infrastructure?
Recent reports indicate that the current funding levels and resources from the state’s gas tax must be improved to keep up with growth. In the future, we will slightly increase the tax to compensate for the shortfall, as fuel consumption is closely linked to the cost of building and maintaining road infrastructure. Texas should also fully utilize the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. The bill will provide approximately $27 billion for highways and bridges over the next five years. Considering the significant income tax and corporate tax we pay the federal government, our state needs to receive its share of funding.
What should the state do in the coming legislative session to address the supply of water in Texas?
The demand for water in Texas is increasing while existing supplies are decreasing. This demand creates a growing gap between supply and demand, posing risks to our communities and economy. The solution will require a combination of conservation, desalination, aquifer storage and recovery, and the construction of new reservoirs.
What should the state do in the coming legislative session to address border security along the Texas-Mexico border and immigration?
Texas should collaborate with the federal government to boost border patrol and migrant processing staff and allocate extra funding for local law enforcement agencies and municipalities as needed. We aim to improve community safety and foster collaboration with the federal government to establish a secure and humane border policy. Ensuring the smooth flow of goods and commerce at our entry points is also crucial.
What should the state legislature do to address property taxes and affordable housing for Texans in the coming legislative session?
The market for our most affordable homes could be more efficient. Stricter lending standards following the 2007 mortgage crisis have made it difficult for individuals to secure mortgages for these homes. As a result, these homes are undervalued and attract cash-paying investors, who further decrease inventory. Texas must incentivize the mortgage industry to offer loans for these low-value homes.
Promoting the construction of mixed-use properties in our district will help increase affordable housing availability. These properties should integrate retail, office, and residential spaces featuring mid-sized affordable housing units.
Revise the property tax system, so lower-value homes pay a lower percentage than higher-value homes. I propose gradually reducing the homestead exemption for higher-value homes while increasing the exemption for homes valued under $300K. This approach will ensure our tax system is fairer and more supportive of affordable housing initiatives.
Should Texas make any changes to its current abortion laws. Why or why not, and what changes would you support?
Texans should have the opportunity to vote on a constitutional amendment concerning reproductive health rights. I propose using Ohio’s reproductive health constitutional amendment language, which states: “Every individual has the right to make and carry out their own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on contraception, fertility treatment, continuing their pregnancy, miscarriage care, and abortion.”
We should remove criminal charges and civil penalties related to abortion procedures so that medical practitioners may confidently provide these services. These laws are part of my opponent’s HB1280 law and are the source of the horrific stories related to non-viable pregnancies that have been making the news in the last few years.
What’s an issue that doesn’t make as many headlines but is important to you? Why is it important?
A loophole in Texas auto insurance allows at-fault drivers to avoid paying damages after an accident. Current law says that at-fault drivers must confirm with their insurance company that they want explicit representation. If they choose not to do this, the insurer can refuse to cover the damages, leading the injured party to have no recourse. This loophole is unfair and burdens the responsible drivers who expect proper coverage. Other states have closed this loophole, and it’s time for Texas to do the same and protect its residents from being left in financial jeopardy after accidents.
What steps will you take to communicate with constituents about their concerns, needs and the actions of the state legislature?
Establish an advisory team of citizens from across the district representing diverse political views to ensure that all voices are heard. Throughout my campaign, many people expressed the need for more face-to-face discussions on politics and policy. Individuals from the left and right agreed that we align on about 85% of issues. Let’s focus on the commonalities.
I will host town halls to share my plans as a legislator and listen to the public’s feedback. My opponent, who has been in office for over 12 years, held his last town hall six years ago.
This story was originally published October 14, 2024 at 2:08 PM.
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