Following hours of emotional testimony April 28, Texas lawmakers grilled state health officials about why they had not suspended the operating license of a Hill Country summer camp where 25 campers and two counselors died in a July 4 flood.
The families of seven of the girls who died at Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian camp, spoke of their experience identifying their daughters’ bruised bodies, telling lawmakers their deaths “have killed us all.” The parents of girls who were rescued from the flood spoke of their children’s consistent nightmares, survivors' guilt and lost innocence. The Eastland family, which runs Camp Mystic, acknowledged that they were unprepared for the deadly flood and did not evacuate campers early enough.
“If we have evidence of actions that show neglect, that show disregard for the law, ... would that not be enough for an immediate revocation?” Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, asked officials with the Texas Department of State Health Services, which inspects and licenses youth camps.
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DSHS Commissioner Jennifer Shuford said her team was reviewing Camp Mystic’s application for a renewed license and investigating multiple complaints against the camp, noting that the agency did not have the unilateral authority to suspend or revoke a camp’s license.
The state health department is reviewing the licenses of all Texas summer camps after lawmakers passed stricter licensing requirements last summer. All camp licenses are active during the review, Shuford said.
Sen. Charles Perry, a Lubbock Republican who authored one of two camp safety laws over the summer, said he planned to file a bill during the 2027 legislative session that would allow the DSHS to immediately cancel a camp’s license for on-site deaths, child abandonment or other violations of Texas law.
San Angelo Rep. Drew Darby, who wrote the other camp safety bill, said those rules already exist. Darby said state health officials not only can, but must, suspend Camp Mystic’s license and deny its renewal application based on evidence presented to lawmakers and in court.
“House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 1 ... were passed in direct response to the deaths of 27 children at Camp Mystic,” Darby said April 28. “The Legislature acted with specific intent to establish nonnegotiable safety standards, eliminate agency discretion and ensure no procedural mechanism could be used to keep a dangerous camp operating.”
The laws require that all Texas summer camps develop and annually update comprehensive emergency plans, set up warning systems to notify campers if something is wrong and install ladders so campers can climb on cabin roofs during floods, according to previous Community Impact reporting. Investigators said April 27 that when the Guadalupe River flooded July 4, Camp Mystic did not have a written, posted disaster evacuation plan, which was already required by state law. The camp also did not use an on-site loudspeaker system to order evacuations as floodwaters rose, and counselors did not have access to lifejackets, portable radios or other safety equipment, parents and investigators said.
Nycia Deal, legal counsel for the state health department, said she did not think officials could suspend a camp’s license before ongoing investigations are complete, although she agreed that lawmakers gave the agency “direction to suspend” a license under HB 1.
“The Legislature will support whatever it takes to shut [Camp Mystic] down as soon as possible,” Perry said.
