Darby Bill Passes Texas House, Requires Youth Camps to Prepare Flood Emergency Plans

AUSTIN, TX — The Texas House on Thursday passed a youth camp safety bill authored by San Angelo lawmaker Rep. Drew Darby, requiring residential camps across the state to create emergency plans after 27 girls died in June’s Camp Mystic flood.

House Bill 1 mandates camps to prepare evacuation and shelter-in-place protocols, along with communication plans for first responders. Camps that fail to comply would face civil penalties.

Darby, who represents San Angelo, read the victims’ names aloud before the vote. He called the legislation “fundamentally about failure,” saying the camp, county officials, the river authority, and the state had all fallen short. “In some ways I know I have failed them,” Darby said.

An amendment by Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, prevents the state from licensing any camp with cabins located in a 100-year floodplain. Officials found several cabins at Camp Mystic in areas deemed “extremely hazardous.”

The package of bills also includes a $368 million disaster relief appropriation, with $50 million set aside for local governments to buy flood warning sirens and rain gauges. Additional measures advanced this week would require flash-flood prone areas to install sirens, expand training for local officials, and improve communication among first responders.

Lawmakers acted after days of emotional testimony from families of the victims and public safety officials during July hearings. Debate was delayed earlier this summer when Democrats left the state to protest Republican-drawn congressional maps.