FL H0877

Amends section 161.101, Florida Statutes to revise criteria for the Department of Environmental Protection's annual funding priorities for beach management and erosion control projects.

Establishes three-tier prioritization system: items of primary consideration (paragraphs a-f), secondary consideration (paragraphs g-i), and additional consideration (paragraphs j-k) that must be evaluated in specified order.

Primary criteria include tourism-related severity of erosion, recreational benefits, federal matching dollars availability, storm damage reduction benefits, local government financial commitment, previous state commitment, and project cost effectiveness.

Secondary criteria include mitigation of adverse inlet impacts, project readiness to proceed considering permits and funding availability, and addressing the state's most significant erosion problems by project length.

Takes effect July 1, 2016 and requires the department to prioritize projects most ready to proceed when multiple projects qualify equally under the evaluation criteria.