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.
According to the Texas Tribune, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) which regulates camps, posted a slate of new rules to the Texas Register that would go into effect next year, including 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.
In October, the DSHS hinted at the 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. The new fees would apply to those even if not located near a waterway.
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.
Also proposed Tuesday is an overhaul of the littleknown 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 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 and 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.
Other proposed changes include prohibiting a youth camp from placing a cabin within a Federal Emergency Management Agencyidentified 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. 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 endto- 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 geographically remote they are. Camps and other stakeholders can submit input on the proposed rules by Dec. 19.