On Aug. 5, 2017, three Boy Scouts were killed on Lake O’ the Pines when the mast of their catamaran struck an overhead transmission line.

Many people spoke in favor of House Bill 4150 on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives on Monday, including the parents of the Scouts who died.

Since their deaths, family members have been searching for answers. In Austin, they talked about what they have discovered since that terrible day.

“The root cause of the death was not the low power line, which was the immediate cause, but a lack of mandated requirements for line safety inspection,” said Stan Brannon, father of 17-year-old Will Brannon. “In short, a lack of oversight from the governing agency of the power utility company.”

They also brought up an incident from the 1980s.

“You might think this is an isolated incident,” said Kedrick Larry, father of 11-year-old Thomas Larry. “But the very same lines on the same lake in a different location were the cause of another death 35 years prior and nothing was done.” Heath Faucheux, 16, was also killed that day.

Larry says the bill will go a long way to ensure power companies are held accountable.

“House Bill 4150 requires power companies to check all their lines for safety compliance,” Larry said. “[It] requires power companies to report their findings and make those reports public. It will make those companies accountable for their own lines. House Bill 4150 will save lives.”

Upshur Rural Electric Cooperative’s General Manager Robert Walker also spoke in support of the bill.

URECC owned the line the mast of the catamaran hit on Lake O’ the Pines.