AUSTIN, Texas – Parents of children who died in the devastating July 4 flood at Camp Mystic delivered emotional testimony before Texas lawmakers on Wednesday, urging quick approval of Senate Bill 1 to improve safety standards at camps across the state.
The Texas Hill Country flood swept through Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, in the early morning hours of July 4, killing 27 girls and young counselors.
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Michael McCown, father of 8-year-old Linnie, one of the victims, recounted the harrowing hours after the flood when he received conflicting information about his daughter’s whereabouts.
“We trusted Camp Mystic with her precious life, but that trust was broken in the most devastating way,” McCown said. “The camp had a heightened duty of care and they failed to perform. That failure cost 25 campers and two young counselors their lives. No one had to die that day.”
McCown described the pain of identifying bodies and the long process of recovery.
He recalled standing amid the wreckage of the camp, asking himself how girls in some cabins vanished without anyone noticing while others nearby had no casualties.
“When I was in school, we had fire drills. Teachers did not need to be told to line up the kids and head for the exit. If the alarm went off, the school was evacuated,” he said. “No fire drill I’ve ever heard of evacuates only one part of the building while leaving others behind.”
McCown urged lawmakers to pass S.B. 1, which would keep cabins out of floodplains, require real emergency plans, mandate weather radios and alert systems, and hold camps accountable for safety.
Senate Bill 1, filed by Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock), is designed to address those failures. The measure would:
- Ban youth camps from operating cabins in designated floodplains.
- Require emergency plans covering flash floods, fires, aquatic emergencies and other disasters.
- Mandate weather radios in every cabin and emergency alert systems that work without internet.
- Require evacuation drills, muster zones, and training for both staff and campers.
- Ensure parents receive copies of emergency plans and notice if a camp is in a floodplain.
Under the bill, camps would also be required to update and resubmit emergency plans annually, maintain contact with local emergency managers, and post evacuation routes inside every cabin.
CiCi Williams Steward and her husband Will spoke about their daughter Cile, one of two flood victims still missing nearly seven weeks after the flood.
“Our daughter was stolen from us,” CiCi said. “Cile’s life ended not because of an unavoidable act of nature, but because of preventable failures.”
She described the ongoing agony of not knowing where Cile’s body is and pleaded with lawmakers to continue the search.
“Cile Steward is still missing. 48 days later, Cile remains somewhere in the devastation of the Guadalupe River. We are forced to pray for the day when our child’s body is found and to call that good news. Until she is found, our family lives in a torture chamber of uncertainty,” she said. “We cannot begin to grieve or to honor the fullness of her short, beautiful life until she is recovered and laid safely to rest.”
Clark Baker, father of Mary Grace, called the deaths “100% preventable” and demanded mandatory, common-sense, state-regulated safety protocols for camps.
“We can’t let complacency claim the life of another child,” Baker said. “Camps, especially those in areas prone to flash floods, should have adequate warning systems and not build cabins in dangerous floodplains. Period.”
Baker, from Beaumont, Texas, said his daughter was having so much fun at camp that she didn’t even have time to write a note home.
“I simply ask that our camps be held to a standard similar to other institutions that oversee our children,” Baker said.
Caitlin and Blake Bonner shared the story of their daughter Lila, who turned nine just days before attending Camp Mystic for the first time.
Lila was “special, beautiful, pure,” Caitlin said.
“She was so kind. The most gentle little girl who fiercely loved her little sisters and all of her friends.”
Caitlin described packing Lila’s trunk with care and giving her tips from her own experience as a camper.
She said Lila followed all the camp rules and was voted best manners at her dining table.
“We thought she was safer at camp than anywhere else,” Caitlin said. “When I think about the trauma and fear that our girls endured, it makes me physically ill. This loss is one no parent should have to endure.”
Blake Bonner called the tragedy “an act of pure complacency.”
“Our daughters paid the ultimate price for their obedience to a plan that was destined to fail,” he said. “This was not an accident. It was 100% preventable failure. It was a failure of planning, prevention, detection and response.”
Ann Lindsay and Davin Hunt spoke about their daughter Janie, describing her as the “heartbeat of our family” and “the light of our family.”
Ann said Janie left for camp full of excitement and joy.
“She came home in a plywood box,” said Anne Lindsay Hunt, recalling the moment she identified her daughter’s body. “It’s impossible to put into words the depths of our grief. If these 27 little voices could be heard today, they would say, please vote in favor of S.B. 1, safer camps, so that no other parent would experience this darkness again.”
Davin Hunt described Janie as “pure with a love for life and truly the innate ability to think of others before herself.”
He said the pain of losing Janie is like a living nightmare. “Sometimes the dreams are replaying our hopeless trip to the funeral home, praying to my Lord and Savior, please kill me, take my life, but not my daughter, Janie, take me instead.”
Carrie and Doug Hanna testified about their daughter Hadley, who died after being pulled from a flooded cabin window.
Carrie described Hadley as “the nicest, sweetest, happiest person, always exuding joy.”
“Camp must be a place where parents can send their kids and not stress about their safety the entire time they are there,” Carrie said. “Please, I beg you all to do what is best for children all over our state.”
Doug Hanna recalled the chaos of the day and the heartbreak of identifying Hadley’s body.
“We thought Mystic was safe. Didn’t know we were sending our daughters to sleeping cabins that were removed from the floodplain through an administrative process.”
Lacey and Lars Hollis spoke about their daughter Virginia, the last of the 27 victims whose body was found.
Virginia’s father, an Eagle Scout, said the family spent years preparing her for camp so she would feel comfortable and safe.
“We taught her how to address letters, how to make her own bed, wear life jackets, safely be around horses and cattle,” Lars Hollis said. “We prepared her to have the time of her life, to make friends and have experiences without us. We wanted to give her the gift to grow outside of our control, but in safety.”
He urged lawmakers to require camps to be prepared for emergencies just as schools and daycares are.
“Unfortunately, my daughter’s family tree will no longer grow because of a lack of preparation, detection, training and response,” he said.
Other parents, including Brandt Dillon, Ryan DeWitt, Ben Landry, and Matthew Childress, shared powerful testimonies about their daughters’ lives and the preventable nature of the tragedy.
Childress, father of counselor Chloe Childress, said no child should sleep in a floodplain and called for functioning early warning systems and evacuation plans.
“The girls who died here were the ones that followed that plan,” he said. “Training should prepare staff and campers to act, not to wait in danger.”
Sen. Perry told families the reforms are intended to close gaps that allowed waivers and exemptions in the past. “We can’t fix what’s happened, but we can darn sure prevent what’s going forward the best we can,” he said.
SB 1 requires the Texas Department of State Health Services to adopt final safety rules by January 2026, with camps required to submit updated emergency plans by May 1, 2026.
The bill is expected to advance quickly through the Legislature.
Dive Deeper Into Senate Bill 1
Senate Bill 1, authored by Sen. Charles Perry and others, aims to overhaul youth camp safety regulations in Texas to prevent tragedies like the Camp Mystic flood.
The bill prohibits licensing or renewal of youth camps that operate cabins located in federally designated 100-year floodplains.
It requires youth camp operators to develop comprehensive emergency plans that address a range of emergencies including lost campers, fires, severe injuries, aquatic emergencies, and natural disasters.
Emergency plans must specify muster zones for evacuation, procedures to account for all campers, and communication protocols with local emergency services, camp staff, and parents or guardians.
Youth camps must maintain operable radios in each cabin capable of receiving real-time weather alerts, install an emergency warning system with a public address system that does not rely on internet connectivity, and monitor safety alerts from the National Weather Service and local authorities.
The bill mandates annual safety training for all camp staff and volunteers, including instruction on emergency procedures and documentation of training completion.
Evacuation routes must be posted in each cabin and remain lit at night.
SB1 also requires youth camp operators to provide emergency plans to municipal and county emergency management coordinators and to make the most recent emergency plan available to parents or guardians.
The bill forbids waivers from these safety requirements, ensuring strict compliance.
The Health and Human Services Commission is tasked with adopting rules to implement these standards by January 1, 2026, with emergency plans due to the state by May 1, 2026.
Sen. Paul Bettencourt acknowledged the grief and anger in the room but promised, “This bill is going to pass. These camps are going to be safe.”
Sen. Lois Kolkhorst assured families that their stories are being heard and will lead to meaningful change.
“This tragedy is going to impact future lives,” Kolkhorst said. “We will never un-hear the stories. And we will make changes.”
