Proposed legislation would levy stricter penalties on Texas camps following the Hill Country flood

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A bill that would tighten how youth camps are penalized for safety deficiencies and that would diminish the industry’s influence on a state advisory committee has gained traction in the Legislature.

While Senate Bill 1 passed last week created a series of new emergency preparedness reforms for youth camps following the tragic flooding deaths of 27 Camp Mystic campers and counselors, state Rep. Lacey Hull’s House Bill 265 works to reduce the influence of camp owners.

Currently, when the 375 state youth camps now licensed by the Texas Department of State Health Services are inspected each year, they are allowed to immediately correct any noted violations of state health code and avoid being penalized.

Hull said her bill, which the House Public Health Committee voted unanimously to advance to the House floor Monday, would remove a camp’s ability to correct violations during the inspection process. It would also reduce the number of camp operators that serve on the DSHS Youth Camp Advisory Committee, from a maximum of seven members to two.

The committee, which discusses policy and issues facing operators, will remain at nine members. In addition to the two members from the camp industry, two others must be from the general public. The other five members can include the following: an emergency management coordinator, a law enforcement professional, a pediatrician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant, a child abuse prevention expert, a parent or legal guardian of a child who attended camp within two years of the appointment date, and a child psychologist.

“It also provides greater flexibility to DSHS and setting rules for enforcement by removing the prohibition on issuing violations during inspections, so that repeat, grievous violations can be penalized, and removes the statutory cap on fines,” Hull told the committee last week during a hearing.

Hull’s bill was filed after The Texas Tribune reported on the little-known committee that advises DSHS and currently has six members who are affiliated with some of the state’s largest youth camps. While the committee cannot create rules, they can influence how much a rule impacts them and shield camps from blanket regulations.

Testifying last week in support of the bill was Kori DelaPeña of Jonestown, whose daughter drowned in 2018 while attending a day camp. She told the Tribune that in her attempt to advocate for legislation that would force all youth camps to comply with stricter water safety rules, members of the camp industry were able to get themselves carved out of the bill that ultimately passed.

“When a camp chooses to accept a responsibility must also accept the responsibility of keeping them safe,” she said during the hearing.

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