Youth camps and campgrounds would follow specified safety rules

Youth camp operators would create emergency plans and meet specified warning, training, communication, and evacuation requirements. These requirements would apply to youth camps, their campers, staff, volunteers, and visitors during camp operations. Plans would need muster areas, responses for listed emergencies, camper accounting, communications with officials and parents or guardians, and a designated emergency coordinator. Operators would need weather alerts, an emergency warning system that works without the Internet, annual plan approval, staff training, posted evacuation routes, and records of training. The department could require a deficient plan to be revised and resubmitted, and the department could not waive these requirements or Chapter 762 requirements. Emergency plans held by specified government entities would be confidential. Rules required for these requirements would be adopted by January 1, 2026, and operators would not have to submit a youth camp emergency plan to the Department of State Health Services until April 1, 2026.

The department would generally deny or refuse to renew a youth camp license when a cabin is in a floodplain. The rule would cover youth camps with one or more cabins in a floodplain and would also require floodplain notices for campers and prospective campers. The department could license or renew the camp if each affected cabin is near a qualifying still body of water or is at least 1,000 feet from a floodway. Operators would have to notify parents or guardians when any camp area is in a floodplain and obtain a signed acknowledgment. The department would maintain an online list of youth camps with active licenses. The licensing rule would apply when the department issues or renews a youth camp license; the parent or guardian notice would apply to campers and prospective campers covered by the provision.

Campground operators would provide flood evacuation and shelter plans, roof-access ladders in certain cabins, and required fire-safety protections. The flood rules would cover campground areas and cabins in floodplains; the fire standards would cover campgrounds, except those owned or controlled by a governmental entity. Operators would implement evacuation plans after flash-flood or flood warnings and tornado plans after tornado warnings. Plans would also address disaster evacuation orders and shelter-in-place orders, and copies would go to designated local emergency officials. Covered campgrounds would follow the 2021 National Fire Protection Association standard, with the stated exceptions. Government entities could regulate listed safety subjects only if their rules were no stricter than that standard. The flood response duties would begin when the specified warnings or emergency orders are issued; the fire standards would apply to covered campgrounds while this chapter is in effect.