Other bills passed by the two local politicians during the 140-day legislative session include ad valorem taxation and ejecting unruly fans from extracurricular events.
The details
Parker represents District 12, which covers portions of Dallas, Denton, Tarrant and Wise counties. Capriglione represents House District 98, which includes the cities of Keller, Westlake, Trophy Club, Southlake, Grapevine, Colleyville and Euless.
They were both sponsors on to create the Texas Cyber Command and the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 150 into law, establishing the Texas Cyber Command at The University of Texas at San Antonio on June 2. The command center will take over much of Texas’ digital security responsibilities, according to previous Community Impact reporting. It becomes effective Sept. 1, according to online documents.
Zooming in
On his Facebook page, Parker said the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas would help the 459,000 Texans diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. The state will provide money for research on and prevention and treatment of dementia, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and related cognitive disorders by transferring $3 billion from state general revenue to the DPRIT fund, according to state documents.
In addition, 11.6% of women 45 or older in Tarrant County reported subjective cognitive decline and 8.6% of men 45 or older reported subjective cognitive decline.
Tarrant County ranks higher than Texas and United States in Alzheimer deaths per 100,000-person population, according to Tarrant County Public Health.
Also of note
In March 2024, the Tarrant Appraisal District was a victim of a ransomware attack where the hackers asked for $700,000 for TAD to regain access to data taken. Nearly a year later, the TAD board of directors approved nearly $1 million in technology upgrades to prevent another attack.
According to previous CI reporting, the city of Dallas was a target of a ransomware attack in 2023.
Diving in deeper
Capriglione said on his Facebook page that 38 of his bills, 24 as the author, were signed into law or on the governor’s desk. He also posted that he was selected as the first chair of the Delivery of Government Efficiency committee, or Texas DOGE, this session.
“In DOGE, we’ve worked hard to eliminate unnecessary regulations, cut waste and abuse in Medicaid, streamline outdated reporting and push back on the costly 'work-from-home' trend in government,” he wrote.
Two of bills he sponsored are constitutional amendments authorizing the legislature to increase the amount of the exemption from ad valorem taxation by a school district of the market value of the residence homestead of a person who is elderly or disabled to $100,000 and to exempt from ad valorem taxation of $125,000 of the market value of personal property a person owns that is held or used for the production of income.
According to the Texas Comptroller website, ad valorem tax is a Latin phrase meaning "according to value." The tax consists of two parts:
- A base amount, against which the tax is imposed
- A percentage that determines the amount of tax due
All three proposals will be on the Nov. 4 ballot.
What else?
Parker also had a hand in passing Senate Bill 2929, which will allow referees, judges or officials of extracurricular athletic activity or competition sponsored by Texas UIL to to remove spectators without warning.
It will be effective for the 2025-26 school year, according to online documents.
