Drew Darby, a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives who represents rural counties in West Texas, has introduced legislation requiring campgrounds and RV parks to develop and submit flood disaster plans each year.
Darby filed his bill, HB 19, a few weeks after a Fourth of July flood killed at least 135 people in Texas, mostly in Kerr County, which is about 150 miles southeast of Darby’s home base in San Angelo.
Darby said his bill is likely to change and could involve making the Texas Department of State Health Services the agency that would approve and maintain the emergency plans. While Darby insists that action will be taken soon on his proposed bill, the Texas House has become engulfed in partisan wrangling over redistricting.
Meanwhile, the Texas Association of Campground Owners (TACO) is hoping to use Darby’s bill as an opportunity to enact NFPA 1194 building and safety standards for campgrounds and RV parks as the statewide standard across Texas. NFPA 1194 is the nationally recognized building and safety standard for campgrounds, RV parks and resorts, though many states, including Texas, have not yet adopted NFPA 1194 as their statewide standard.
To better understand these events, Woodall’s Campground Magazine Senior Editor Jeff Crider interviewed Brian Schaeffer, TACO’s executive director and CEO, and Randall Dally, the association’s legislative liaison and past president, for their perspectives on Darby’s proposed legislation, the recent floods in Texas and TACO’s current objectives.
The following are highlights of their conversation.
WCM: Is Darby’s bill a good idea or a bad idea? Why or why not?
Brian Schaeffer: The intent behind the Darby bill is to ensure safety in campgrounds. The original draft was throwing a lot of ideas on paper to think about and refine. There is a significant substitution in the works that addresses our concerns with the original bill being over broad, while incorporating NFPA 1194 language or the actual statute.
WCM: Does the state department of health or emergency services have enough staff to properly evaluate flood plans submitted by every campground and RV park in Texas?
Schaeffer: Neither would have enough staff to review plans submitted by every RV park. In working with legislators, we have pretty much eliminated the need for parks to submit flood plans unless they are in a floodplain. Then it would ideally be up to the local jurisdiction.
WCM: How would the state of Texas know if the flood plans submitted by campgrounds and RV parks are sufficient or not?
Schaeffer: It would be a learning curve for the State to know if a plan was sufficient in their minds for a flood. But working with local jurisdictions could mitigate this.
WCM: Does TACO support or oppose Darby’s bill?
Randall Dally: TACO is neutral on the Darby bill as originally submitted. We will wait until the final draft is presented to decide. The bill is a work in progress now.
WCM: What specifically does NFPA have to do with flood control?
Dally: NFPA 1194 requires a park to have a written evacuation plan and submit it to the proper local authority for review. While flood control is not something that the park can control, planning for a flood, hurricane, tornado, wildfire, etc., is something that every park would have to do. TACO would advocate for having proper plans in place and even provide templated plans that parks could start with and make their own. This would be added to the TACO Legal Handbook as a member benefit.
WCM: What is the status of TACO’s efforts to have NFPA adopted as a statewide standard in Texas?
Dally: We introduced NFPA 1194 in the 2023 and 2025 sessions to be the statewide standard for parks being built or expansions. The bills passed the House both times but stalled in the Senate for various reasons. With the emphasis of this special session on safety in youth camps and campgrounds, we feel that NFPA 1194 is a good answer for RV parks and campgrounds.
WCM: What is the timeline for the Texas legislature to vote on Darby’s bill?
Dally: I would think that the legislature would like to have the Darby bill completed by adjournment of the special session in August, likely in the next couple of weeks. But keep in mind what often happens in regular and special sessions is that something big comes up that tends to suck all the oxygen out of the process — currently that is redistricting.
WCM: Is there anything going on in the Texas Senate regarding all of this?
Dally: Last week, Senator Charles Perry introduced SB 1. It was very comprehensive, but like HB 19 we felt it went too far in some areas and did not specifically address the NFPA 1194 solution. I testified before the Senate Committee and Senator Pete Flores, who last sponsored our NFPA 1194 bill, indicated he would introduce an amendment covering NFPA 1194.
As of Monday morning (Aug. 11), we now have that amendment ready to go. Ron Hinkle, our legislative consultant, and I also met with Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s office and explained NFPA 1194. They were very attentive, and we thank all those who are seeking to make a difference in reasonable RV park and campground safety.
WCM: From media reports we’ve seen and heard, it seems that the bigger problem in Hill County isn’t the campgrounds or RV parks, but a failure of emergency officials to properly and effectively relay storm information to local emergency officials in Hill Country who could have or should have alerted people along the Guadalupe River that a flood was coming. What is TACO’s perspective on what exactly happened?
Schaeffer: TACO has not focused on the fault of the flood or notification or lack thereof, in the affected areas. No one can predict a 1,000-year event or that the rain would fall at the wrong spot at the wrong time. Some weather-sensitive people woke up or stayed up and monitored the situation and acted when they felt they needed to.
It also does not help that many people are alert weary and tend to disregard an alert that covers several counties or a large area. While the National Weather Service had additional people on staff that night, it can be hard to communicate with visitors to the areas that are unfamiliar with the land and the effect rain can have, and the local radio stations, etc. Also, consider the fact that when on vacation, many people, particularly campers, want to “disconnect” — as noted in the recent Kampgrounds of America Inc. (KOA) study — from the normal world of electronics and everyday events.
WCM: Does TACO see a need for better emergency communication between state and local officials in the Hill Country or anywhere else in Texas?
Schaeffer: You can pretty much say that every state has a communication issue between local, nearby, and state radio/TV systems. Many of the systems now are encrypted and might not have the frequency programmed into the radio, if travelers even have such a radio. Encryption keys are very tightly held for a good reason.
There is a need for better communication, and we attended a hearing where it was discussed, and rough plans were reviewed to make it happen. That said, a perfect storm in the middle of the night on a holiday weekend when parks are loaded with unfamiliar guests is a true recipe for disaster.
We have even gone so far as an association to investigate whether parks could install their own warning systems – think loud sirens. These systems are in the tens of thousands of dollars in cost. Then, when do you deploy them? Every time you get a weather alert? You would literally drive patrons away from your business because weather alerts in Texas happen A LOT, and most of the time, nothing develops from them.
WCM: Where does TACO stand on the idea of parks having evacuation plans for floods or other emergencies?
Schaeffer: Per NFPA 1194, we want parks to have evacuation plans. We’ll help develop those. We advocate having them posted prominently throughout the parks and handed out to patrons. This is a very good and logical starting point where, in most cases, nothing now exists.
