The leaders of the Texas Legislature support lifting a new state requirement for youth camps to install “end-to-end fiber optic facilities” in order to allow them to operate this summer, following a lawsuit from 19 camps calling the measure too challenging.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows released a statement Tuesday supporting the removal of the requirement for fiber-optic internet infrastructure at all Texas camps, citing the difficulty of meeting this requirement
“We also recognize that there may be means other than fiber to provide reliable, redundant internet access, which would satisfy the purpose and spirit of the law,” Patrick and Burrows said in the statement.
Summer camps in Texas can qualify for licensure through the Department of State Health Services. To obtain a license, among the steps they must fulfill is submit a sufficient emergency action plan, meet all other safety requirements, and maintain a reliable communication system capable of operating during an emergency, lawmakers said on social media and in statements.
Attempts to reach DSHS for comment about whether it supports the lawmakers’ request to override the new rules and regulations weren’t returned by publication.
Lawmakers are expected to revisit the camp safety standards in the 90th Legislative session in 2027 while ensuring that camps operate in good faith under these new regulations.
State legislators passed the fiber optic requirement, in addition to mandating a second type of broadband connection, after the July 4 flood in the Texas Hill Country. That flood killed 25 campers, two counselors at Camp Mystic and the camp’s executive director Dick Eastland — information that emergency responders struggled to confirm as one official noted phone lines were down and there was no cell service at the camp.
In April, 19 camps in Texas filed a lawsuit saying the requirement to install fiber optic internet does not make their properties safer, violates the state Constitution and state law regarding property rights, and could prevent them from opening.
The group of camps, which includes Camp Champions, Camp Longhorn and Tejas Ministries, said in the suit that companies advised them that the service either could not be supplied, could not be confirmed as “end-to-end” — a term the lawsuit said isn’t defined — or would cost an amount “that greatly exceeded their resources.”
The suit, filed in a Travis County state district court, offered examples: Camp Liberty, in one extreme, received a quote of $1 million in upfront costs plus a $3,500 monthly service fee over five years. Camp Longhorn received a quote of more than $1.2 million.
The original requirement made no exception for rural camps, where fiber optic internet might not be available or “is so costly as to make it economically infeasible or unreasonably burdensome,” the lawsuit states.
Whether this lawsuit will continue should the fiber-optic internet requirement be lifted remains unknown.
