Camps across America operate without standardized safety practices, and oversight varies by state. While schools and childcare centers must meet basic safety standards to steward our children and youth, most states require little to no comparable regulations for summer camps — leaving millions of children across the country exposed to risk and preventable harm every single summer.
The standards that do exist vary by jurisdiction and rarely address the full spectrum of camp safety: flood and hazard prevention, emergency detection systems, staff training, and crisis response protocols. Common-sense safety measures that parents would assume are already in place are not.
The Safe Summers Action Fund is working urgently to change this.
Our advocacy is producing results in policy change and in the lives of families who send their children to camp every summer. Click any state below to learn more about the laws enacted to date.
Heaven’s 27 Camp Safety Act (SB1) & Youth CAMPER Act (HB1)
Signed: September 5, 2025, by Gov. Greg Abbott
Effective: Immediately, with phased compliance deadlines extending into early 2026
Applies to: Summer 2026 camp season and beyond
Passed in a special session of the Texas Legislature just two months after the July 4, 2025, tragedy during floods at Camp Mystic, this legislation prohibits sleeping cabins in floodplains, requires real-time weather alert systems and emergency communications, mandates annual staff training and camper safety orientations, and creates a public registry of licensed youth camps in the state.
Youth Camp Safety Act (HB1675)
Signed: May 18, 2026, by Gov. Kevin Stitt
Effective: Camps must complete hazard assessments and file emergency action plans by the end of 2026, renewed every three years
Applies to: Summer 2027 camp season and beyond
HB1675 requires every youth camp and outdoor program in Oklahoma to complete a site-specific hazard assessment and develop a comprehensive emergency action plan addressing severe weather threats including tornadoes and flash flooding. Camps must maintain multiple weather alert systems, designate evacuation routes, and provide annual staff emergency preparedness training.
Sarah Marsh Heaven’s 27 Camp Safety Act (HB381)
Signed: April 8, 2026, by Gov. Kay Ivey
Effective: January 1, 2027
Applies to: Summer 2027 camp season and beyond
Named in honor of 8-year-old Sarah Marsh of Mountain Brook, Alabama, and the other Heaven’s 27 girls who died while in the care of Camp Mystic, this law establishes Alabama’s first Emergency Preparedness License for overnight camps. It requires NOAA weather monitoring, redundant emergency communication systems, staff background checks, annual emergency training, and prohibits new sleeping cabins in FEMA-designated floodplains.
Public Safety Bill (SB1421) — camp staff background check provision
Status: Passed the Missouri General Assembly on May 15, 2026; delivered to Gov. Mike Kehoe, who has until July 15, 2026 to sign
As part of a broader public safety bill, this provision requires every staff member and volunteer at Missouri’s overnight and residential camps to undergo a qualifying criminal background check. It’s a narrower step than the comprehensive reforms passed in Texas, Alabama, and Oklahoma — but a meaningful one, and a sign the movement is reaching new statehouses.
Our vision is a future where children can experience the benefits of summer camp protected by baseline safety standards families can trust.
Legislative change cannot happen without your support. Your contribution to the Safe Summers Action Fund directly supports our efforts to advance camp safety reform — state by state, bill by bill, until every child that attends summer camp in America is protected.
Safe Summers Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. Your donation will support public policy reform to protect children at summer camps. Contributions to Safe Summers Action Fund are not deductible as charitable contributions for Federal income tax purposes.
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