MONTGOMERY — State Rep. David Faulkner (R-Mountain Brook) on Wednesday presented his bill that would establish safety plans for summer camps across the state.
The Sarah Marsh Heaven’s 27 Camp Safety Act, which has Gov. Kay Ivey's support, is named in honor of 8-year-old Alabamian Sarah Marsh, who was one of the young campers caught in flash flooding in Texas last summer.
RELATED: Ivey backs Faulkner bill to protect kids at summer camps after heartbreaking loss
An emotional Faulkner recounted Marsh's story and said his bill would ensure camps in Alabama are better regulated and have stronger safety protocols. He praised the camps across the state, but said it was vital they all had emergency preparedness licenses, which he said was common sense, as well as better plans in case of an emergency.
"[W]e need to have this as a requirement so that people can make sure that what they're doing is safe," he emphasized while speaking to the House State Government Committee.
The bill passed with full support and will head to the floor for debate.
After the bill's passage, Sarah Marsh's mother, Jill, gave a touching presentation about her daughter.
She described her daughter as "beyond excited" about going to that Texas camp.
"This camp was a well-respected Christian camp with almost a century of experience. Yet, they didn't even have safety measures in place on par with what we require of schools or daycares because they didn't have to," Jill Marsh stated.
In pushing for its passage, she said that her daughter and the 26 other young girls who died in the Texas flood would still be alive today if Texas had the same measures laid out in Faulkner's bill.
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