In their latest effort to boost camp oversight in the wake of the deadly July 4 floods, Texas officials have proposed hiking annual licensing fees for operators by thousands of dollars and slashing the number of camp representatives on a statewide committee that advises on industry regulations.
On Tuesday, the Texas Department of State Health Services, which regulates camps, posted a slate of new rules to the Texas Register that would go into effect next year, and among them are proposals that would increase camp licensing fees based on size and type of camps.
Currently, the start-up licensing fee is $250 for any day camp and $750 for any residential camp, such as an overnight summer camp. The yearly renewal fee currently ranges from $52 to $155 for day camps and $103 to $464 for residential camps.
The initial licensing fee for a day youth camp with 99 or fewer campers per year is expected to climb to $950 and can reach $3,500 for those with 5,000 or more. The initial licensing fee is even steeper for residential youth camps, increasing to $2,150 for camps with 99 or fewer campers and to $21,000 for those with 10,000 or more campers.
Annual renewal fees would range from $750 to $19,500, depending on the size and type of camp.
Dan Neal, a representative of Camping Association of Mutual Progress, a camp lobbying firm, and owner of Georgetown-based Camp Doublecreek told The Texas Tribune on Wednesday that the increase in fees will be a shock to the system. However, most camp owners recognize that the increase is necessary to allow DSHS to hire additional inspectors and rebuild the youth camp program, he said.
“We are hopeful that once the program is fully reestablished and operating smoothly for several years, the fee levels can be reassessed and appropriately reduced,” he said.
Last month, the Department of State Health Services teased the dramatic change during a meeting to discuss the rollout of a pair of camp safety bills that the Legislature passed in response to the July 4 Hill Country floods that killed at least 137 people, including 27 campers and counselors at Camp Mystic.
At that meeting and in a survey the state conducted in the fall, several camp operators said such licensing fees and other new requirements could put many in the industry out of business because most camps are small nonprofits.
“This causes an undue burden for smaller or more remote camps,” according to a survey response from Livingston-based Boxwoods camp obtained by The Texas Tribune. “All the costs that are a result of this legislation should not be passed on to camps.”
Also proposed Tuesday is an overhaul of the little-known Youth Camp Advisory Committee, which meets semiannually to request rule changes to the state health agency and to lawmakers when they are in session. The Texas Tribune found that the makeup of this committee for many years has been mostly camp leadership and that while members can’t make rules, they can influence how much rules impact the industry. Camp Mystic’s Britt Eastland is a current member.
The proposed change to the nine-person advisory committee would reduce the number of camp operators on the board from seven to four, and would replace them with specialized positions, such as one for a parent who has attended camp in the past two years. It also requires a person specialized in camp activities, and someone who is a child abuse expert, a pediatric psychologist or a psychiatrist to be on the committee.
Neal, who also chairs the state’s camp advisory committee, said the proposed structure is well-balanced and ensures representation from the full range of youth camp types.
“We also welcome the addition of a camper parent, a safety expert, and a youth mental health expert. Their perspectives will be valuable and will help create a more well-rounded committee,” he said. “The Youth Camp Advisory Committee will play an important role in the coming years as the provisions of Heaven’s 27 and the Youth CAMPER Act move into real-world practice.”
Other proposed changes include prohibiting a youth camp from placing a cabin within a Federal Emergency Management Agency-identified 100-year floodplain unless it's located on a still body of water, such as a lake or pond, or is not connected to a watercourse, such as a river or stream, and the resulting water is dammed. Even if the cabin falls into these exceptions, it must be 1,000 feet away from a floodway, and the youth camp operator must install and maintain emergency ladders capable of providing access to the cabin’s roof.
A youth camp operator will also be required to provide and maintain broadband internet services using end-to-end fiber-optic facilities and a secondary broadband internet connection.
Multiple camp operators said in the state survey they were concerned about the broadband requirements because of how remote they are.
“We contacted AT&T (our local internet provider) to receive an estimate for fiber optic installation and were quoted the exorbitant cost of $1.7 million. This is cost-prohibitive and virtually impossible for us to access,” according to a response from Huntsville-based Forest Glen Camps.
Camps and other stakeholders can submit input on the proposed rules by Dec. 19.
Terri Langford contributed reporting.
Disclosure: AT&T has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
