Lawmakers tighten youth‑camp safety after Kerr County flood; House and Senate approve package including evacuation and licensing changes

After weeks of negotiation and testimony from families affected by the July 4 Hill Country floods, the Texas Legislature adopted a paired package of measures — Senate Bill 1 (campground and youth camp safety) and conforming House language — that changed licensing and safety requirements for youth camps and campgrounds.

“Members, this bill does not provide a blanket prohibition on a youth camp cabin from being constructed in a flood plain,” Representative Darby said while explaining the Senate language. He said the bill will bar licensing of residential cabins in the mapped floodway or within 1,000 feet of a floodway’s border unless a camp is a designated lake camp, an exception he said was appropriate for coastal and lake camps that evacuate under different regimes.

The Senate bill adds Chapter 762 to the Health and Safety Code and amends Chapter 141 to set specific licensure requirements, evacuation and emergency planning standards, ladder and egress provisions and definitions related to flood maps. Darby and other supporters said the changes were born of the Camp Mystic tragedy and requested by families seeking stronger safeguards.

Representative Verdell offered an amendment to preserve FEMA Letter of Map Amendments/Revisions (LOMA/LOMR) as valid technical determinations; the House tabled that amendment on a 90‑38 recorded vote. Verdell had argued LOMAs reflect on‑the‑ground surveying and are important technical fixes to broad federal maps; Darby said camp families asked the Legislature to ensure mapped floodplain boundaries were applied without the LOMA exception.

Verdell also proposed targeted fixes — removing repeated license renewals for minor facility changes and avoiding a hardwired fiber‑optic redundancy requirement — that he said were intended to preserve smaller nonprofit camps’ viability. Darby and other supporters said redundant, reliable communications and specific distance and ladder rules were requested by affected families and survivors and were necessary to prevent future loss of life.

The House later voted to concur with the Senate amendments to House Bill 1 and to pass SB 1; recorded votes show SB 1 and the reconciled House bill carried overwhelmingly in final passage.

Senate Bill 1 and its House companion create new licensing restrictions for camps with residential sleeping structures in mapped floodways, set emergency planning standards, and add implementation steps for the Department of State Health Services to enforce licensing changes. Supporters said the bills are intended to prevent another nighttime flood tragedy like Camp Mystic.