AUSTIN, Texas — In emotional testimony in front of the state committee investigating last year's deadly Texas flash floods, parents who lost loved ones at Camp Mystic expressed their frustration as the camp pushes ahead with a planned reopening this summer to state lawmakers.
“Mother Nature did not kill them, but by complacency, ego and tradition,” Matthew Childress, whose 18-year-old daughter, Chloe, was a counselor at Camp Mystic and died in the July 4 Kerr County floods, said. “Also, by the lack of proper regulatory enforcement and ultimately by poor human decision-making.”
Twenty seven campers and counselors lost their lives in the catastrophic flash floods at the Kerr County camp in the early morning hours of July 4, 2025.
Parents emotionally described what their children went through to state lawmakers. Katherine Hoffman said her daughter survived by swimming out of her cabin and clinging to the column of another cabin as the current rushed by.
“Mommy, when the water reached my neck, I thought I was going to die,” Hoffman said her daughter told her.
After the flood, Hoffman’s daughter told her mom she should have saved another camper.
“Children are not supposed to save other children,” Hoffman said. “You were all trying to survive in the water, and it was not your responsibility as an 8-year-old to save others.”
She said her daughter asked her, “Whose responsibility was it?” and added, “We called for help, and no one came.”
Julie Sprunt-Marshall’s 9-year-old daughter was swept downriver and was repeatedly pulled underwater along the way. Her daughter survived and ended up on a pile of debris more than a mile downstream with another young camper.
“She described thinking this is what it is like to die,” Marshall said. “She would lie flat in the river feet first but would have to be under the level of debris because it was all so thick.”
The investigative hearings this week found that Camp Mystic had no real evacuation plan and waited to act as the water rose, and by the time they started evacuating girls, it was too late. The camp’s Executive Director and the patriarch of the Eastland family, Dick, was killed after he was swept away in the floodwaters while trying to rescue campers.
The Eastland family hopes to reopen the camp in about a month, but first, they need the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to renew their operating license.
Camp Mystic has applied to renew its state license to reopen partly. The application is for their Cypress Lake campus, which is on higher ground and separate from the Guadalupe River campus, where the campers and counselors died, and was not affected by the flood.
In a deficiency letter sent last week, DSHS told Camp Mystic that the camp’s current emergency plan doesn’t meet several of the requirements for the state’s new Texas Youth Camp Safety and Health Act.
The 11-page letter outlined 22 categories in which Camp Mystic's emergency plan does not meet state requirements.
“I’m not talking about some minutia,” State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) said. “These are major violations.”
Thirteen were deemed insufficient, including the camp's natural disaster plan, fire plan, severe injury or death plan, epidemic plan, flash flood warning evacuation plan, aquatic emergency plan, and emergency warning system. Seven of the deficiencies were marked as incomplete, including a transportation emergency plan, a parent emergency plan, a shelter-in-place plan, and camper safety training. Two categories were marked missing, including the camp's floodplain location and emergency plans for staff.
"I would have thought, after coming out of July of '25, that every 'I', every 'T' — everything on that application would have been pristine with all answers," State Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock) said.
The Eastland family told state lawmakers Tuesday that they are working to correct "deficiencies" in the plans and intend to submit a new plan to the state in the coming days.
DSHS said that, as part of the licensing application review process, most youth camps across the state have received a notice of deficiency letter for their emergency plans due to many changes since last summer and increased emergency plan requirements.
Adam Buuck, an associate deputy commissioner at the DSHS, said the agency has issued 3 licenses so far to camps that meet all the requirements for fiber internet and the new emergency plans. Of the remaining 302 applications, 178 have deficiencies in their emergency plan.
“We are working with each one of those camps to get those emergency plans up to meeting compliance with the uh the new law, and we will not issue a license or a renewal until all of those requirements are met,” Buuck said.
The Texas Rangers are assisting the DSHS in investigating complaints of neglect at Camp Mystic. The Rangers typically investigate criminal allegations, but they can and have worked on administrative investigations.
Buuck said they will consider the whole picture when deciding whether to issue a license to Camp Mystic.
“Our license renewal is based on their new application, meeting the new requirements, your investigation, and then our investigation, so that we will make a license decision based on all of that information,” Buuck said. “Even though it's on parallel tracks, we will need all of those answers to all of those things before we can make an informed decision.”
Perry said Camp Mystic should remain closed.
“There’s a point where the consequences of not doing your job are so significant, so consequential, that you don’t have the privilege of running a business,” said Sen. Charles Perry (R-Lubbock), who is the vice chair of the state Senate committee investigating the deadly floods over July 4. “What deterrent does that send to other camp operators that I can have kids die on my watch and still be an operator?”
While they made clear they do not like the idea of the Eastland family reopening Camp Mystic this summer, state lawmakers acknowledged they might not have the power to prevent it.
“Legally, y’all probably get to stay in existence this summer,” Perry said, but “whatever rules we have to devise, y’all will not be a camp operator next season if I have anything to say,” Perry said, “Because y’all just missed it. There needs to be a certain finality to it. And leaving you to be an operator just isn’t it.”
Mary Liz Eastland told lawmakers her family would be willing to step away from running the camp if needed.
“If camp can go on, that’s OK with us. We are willing to step back and take a pause,” Mary Liz Eastland said on Tuesday. “I think that’s appropriate and OK, and we’re willing to do that.”
State lawmakers hammered Mary Liz Eastland, the chief medical officer for the camp, for still 10 months later, not officially reporting the deaths to the state health department. Texas administrative code requires camps to report deaths to state health regulators within 24 hours.
“I can tell you that the non-reporting is under active investigation right now,” Dr. Jennifer Shuford, the Commissioner of the DSHS, said. “That's part of the open investigations that we have, so it is not being ignored.”
If state regulators deny a license for Camp Mystic, the Eastlands testified on Tuesday that they plan to appeal administratively. While that appeal is pending, the camp would be allowed to remain open, meaning, despite being denied a license, they could potentially stay open for the entire summer season.
The camp continues to hold an active license while it undergoes the review process.
An attorney for DSHS said there's no provision in the regulatory structure to immediately require a camp to stop operating if there's an immediate threat or risk, as there is in healthcare and childcare, where a commissioner can issue an order requiring the operation to cease. Some state lawmakers on the panel voiced support for changing that, noting that if some daycares in the state even have one death, they lose their license and get shut down.
Unless the agency obtained a temporary injunction to stop the camp’s operations, it couldn’t intervene to stop them during an appeal.
“The Administrative Procedure Act was designed to provide baseline procedural protections across all state agencies and all regulated industries,” State Rep. Dew Darby (R-San Angelo) said. “It was never intended to keep dangerous operators running when the legislature has made a specific mandatory determination that public safety requires otherwise. House Bill 1 and SB 1 are that determination.”
Last summer, state lawmakers passed, and Gov. Abbott signed Senate Bill 1, also known as the "Heaven’s 27 Camp Safety Act," and House Bill 1, known as the "Youth CAMPER Act.” It requires youth camps to add several safety measures, including installing and maintaining emergency alert systems, training staff on evacuation routes and procedures, banning cabins from being located in floodplains, and requiring state inspections to ensure camps are complying with emergency procedures.
Darby, who authored House Bill 1, said it gives DSHS the power to suspend a camp's license.
“If they have a deficient plan, you have the obligation to suspend them. Now they can restore it by curing the deficiencies, but if they have a deficient plan, you have the statutory obligation to revoke the old license,” Darby said.
In a social media post, State Rep. Wes Virdell, a Republican whose district includes Kerr County, called the legislation “detrimental to camps and campers across Texas” and said he has “talked to several camps who are faced with millions of dollars each to meet the new requirements.”
Leaders at 19 camps are suing the DSHS, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, and the Texas Attorney General's office, arguing that a provision of Senate Bill 1 requiring fiber internet access at camps is unreasonable. They argue that kind of internet access isn't available in remote or rural areas, and even if it is, it's not economically feasible for them to get access.
The bill requires youth camps to have a backup broadband internet connection as well. If they can't meet the state's requirements-- those camps won't be able to get licenses to operate.
Camp Mystic is planning to reopen on May 30 and intends to hold six 10-day sessions, which camp leaders said will generate an estimated revenue of $3 million to $4 million.
Asked what would happen if they were denied a state license, the Eastland's gave conflicting answers.
“If they were to find you deficient and not issue a license, are you all going to aggressively pursue the time frame and the appeal process for the next year and put everybody back through this?” Perry asked.
Richard Eastland said, “We will probably appeal it, but we will not have camp,” and would not open Cypress Lake. But Britt Eastland said the camp plans to correct all the deficiencies, so, by law, we should be able to get a license.
When asked again by State Rep. Joe Moody (D-El Paso) if they will open this summer without a license, Britt Eastland said: “It is a family decision.”
“We cannot say anything on the record what we will do,” Britt said.
State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst urged the Eastland family to reconsider their plan, asking if they are ready to take on hundreds of children.
“I'm just telling you to find a way, in ways I think it might protect the Eastland family as well, just to hit a pause button here,” Kolkhorst told Shuford.
“Mistakes were made. I know they want to make it right,” Kolkhorst said. “I think making it right is hitting a pause button here. That's what's making it right.”
Malorie Lytal, who first went to Camp Mystic as a camper in 1995, sent her daughter, Kellyanne, to camp last summer, telling owner Dick Eastland, “Please watch over my baby,” and he assured her, “We got her.”
“Those words will haunt me for the rest of my life,” Lytal said. “Camp Mystic did not ‘have her.’ As her cabin filled with flood waters, she was left to fend for herself and wash miles downriver to die the most horrific, gruesome death.”
Lytal spoke directly to the Eastland family.
“I am heartbroken that you have not only destroyed our lives but that you’ve destroyed your own, as well as taken away every beautiful memory and magic of mystic that many have held so dear in their hearts,” Lytal said.
Cici Steward, whose daughter Cile was swept away in the flood waters and whose body has never been found, called on state officials to deny Camp Mystic’s license and not allow it to reopen.
“The state of Texas cannot certify that this family is safe to watch children ever again,” Steward said. “Nothing should stop you or the state of Texas from preventing further tragedy.”
On Tuesday, Britt Eastland said they believe that in a few years, the parents of the victims “will be glad that we had camp this summer.”
“I know right now it doesn't seem that way, but I really believe that,” he said.
Several family members, including Steward, took issue with that.
“Do not insult me by pretending that reopening is anything other than your family’s attempt at self-preservation,” she said. “Do not ever tell our families that one day we will be happy you reopened this summer. How dare you? Shame on you. You stole our happiness on July 4. I had to leave this chamber when I heard that, so I didn’t scream out loud.”
After the two days of hearings, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a social media post, “It’s clear that Camp Mystic was totally unprepared, understaffed, complacent, incompetent, and lacking an evacuation plan.” He once again called for DSHS to not give Camp Mystic a license to operate this summer, writing, “it’s time to end this 10-month journey of indescribable pain for these families and to protect future campers.”
“What other information does DSHS need to act? No more excuses,” Patrick said. “How many campers must die for a camp operator to lose their license? Is it 1? 3? 5? 10? Is 27 not enough? If not for brave teenage counselors, who saved girls by their heroic actions, it could have been 50 or more.”
Patrick also called on the Eastland family to withdraw their license application and announce there will be no camp this summer at Mystic.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) said the hearings painted a deeply painful picture.
“There were failures—of systems, of preparation, and of response. Nothing can undo that fact,” Burrows said. “However, we have a responsibility to confront these realities with honesty, to learn from them, and to act. We must ensure places meant for joy, character-building, and lifelong friendships—like summer camps—remain safe for every child.”
DSHS told state lawmakers it has partnered with emergency response professionals, National Emergency Management Response or National EMR to establish a consistent, high-quality approach to camp emergency plan review.
“Every emergency plan has required numerous revisions, often through multiple rounds to ensure the plan is comprehensive, comprehensive and actionable,” Shuford said. “In addition to desk review, the desk review portion of the emergency plan, we have trained our inspectors to conduct on-site verification of camp emergency plan components.”
Shuford said they will not approve a camp's license unless it has an acceptable emergency plan.
The agency will work with National EMR to develop any additional templates or guidance as needed and to identify best practices and opportunities for improvement.
They plan to bring that information to the multidisciplinary safety team established by the youth camp safety law in the Fall to review and improve the process for 2027. That team includes the Texas Division of Emergency Management, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Forest Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife, the fire marshal and the Water Development Board, as well as DSHS.