FL S1566

Reorganizes funding priority criteria for beach management and erosion control projects into three tiers: primary consideration (items a-f), secondary consideration (items g-i), and additional consideration (items j-k).

Primary criteria now emphasize tourism-related economic benefits measured by return on investment ratios, recreational benefits based on zoned property footage, federal matching dollars availability, storm damage reduction, previous state commitment, and project cost effectiveness.

Secondary criteria include mitigation of inlet impacts, project readiness to proceed (with authority for department to exclude projects with documented concerns), and addressing the state's most significant erosion problems relative to project length.

Additional consideration criteria prioritize projects repeatedly on the ranked list without funding success and projects providing environmental habitat enhancement for threatened or endangered species, including turtle-friendly designs.

Requires the Department of Environmental Protection to consider criteria in the specified order, with project readiness as the tie-breaker when multiple projects qualify equally; effective July 1, 2016.