Overview

• The Texas House voted 136–1 to pass House Bill 1, requiring overnight youth camps to file state-reviewed emergency plans, inform parents if facilities sit in floodplains, and barring licenses for camps with cabins in the 100-year floodplain.
• A Senate panel advanced Senate Bill 1, which the full chamber is taking up, with provisions for rooftop exits on cabins in flood zones, mandatory evacuation to higher ground upon National Weather Service flood warnings, evacuation drills, weather radios, and annual staff training.
• Camp Mystic’s owners publicly supported the proposed laws, emphasizing detection and warning systems, and noted that co-owner Dick Eastland died trying to save campers during the July 4 flood that killed 27 at the camp.
• Lawmakers are moving a wider disaster-response package: Senate Bill 3 on outdoor sirens passed the Senate; Senate Bill 2 on mass-fatality protocols and volunteer registration cleared both chambers; House Bill 3 on communications interoperability passed the House; and Senate Bill 5, with funding for sirens, gauges, forecasting, and radio upgrades, is headed to the governor.
• Recovery continues with at least one camper still unlocated, as investigations spotlight delayed alerts, decommissioned gauges, and a 2013 FEMA map change that removed multiple Camp Mystic buildings from the Special Flood Hazard Area.