Texas officials have approved only nine summer camps to operate this year with three weeks remaining before the season begins.
Texas Rep. Wes Virdell, a Republican who represents Kerr County, the center of the devastation, said he is hearing from camps daily struggling to obtain licenses. Virdell requested Gov. Greg Abbott call a special session of the Legislature to address what he says are flaws in the legislation.
“We all want camps to be safe,” Virdell said on social media, “but we as legislators must ensure that the requirements are reasonable and achievable.”
Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to an email Monday from The Dallas Morning News.
Under the new laws, camps are required to install emergency warning and public address systems, provide mandatory safety training to campers and distribute emergency protocols to families. Some must build new cabins and move existing ones out of certain flood plains designated by Federal Emergency Management Agency maps.
Camps must outline safety and compliance details in thorough emergency plans. Unlike previous years, camps are now required to submit those plans to the Department of State Health Services, which is responsible for issuing licenses to both day and overnight camps.
To help expedite the process, the state health agency will begin conducting preliminary onsite inspections while camps work to bring their emergency plans into compliance.
Camp Mystic — which faced growing scrutiny over its preparation and response to the floods — withdrew its request for a license last week after emotional hearings with state lawmakers and backlash over its plan to reopen in a separate area.
The nine camps that have obtained licenses are: Camp Thurman in Pantego, Camp Buckner and Camp OTX, both in Hill Country, Camp Sweeney near the Oklahoma border, Frontier Camp and Pine Springs Baptist Camp, both in East Texas, Hidden Falls Ranch and CETA Canyon Methodist Camp and Retreat, both in the Panhandle, and Camp Fern Legacy in northeast Texas.