Florida SB 636: Beach Management

Bill Text

636 
Beach Management 
2026-02-06T11:15:08Z 
Requiring the Department of Environmental Protection to review certain data when designating certain beaches as critically eroded and in need of restoration and nourishment; requiring that certain beaches, whose local government preserved funds for a certain purpose and which possess specified features, be designated as critically eroded; revising the list of areas that may receive designation as an area of critical state concern, etc. 
Committee Substitute 1 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
c1 

 Florida Senate - 2026 CS for SB 636 

 By the Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment, and 
 General Government; and Senator Leek 

 601-02526-26 2026636c1 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to beach management; amending s. 
 3 161.101, F.S.; requiring the Department of 
 4 Environmental Protection to review certain data when 
 5 designating certain beaches as critically eroded and 
 6 in need of restoration and nourishment; requiring that 
 7 certain beaches, whose local government preserved 
 8 funds for a certain purpose and which possess 
 9 specified features, be designated as critically 
 10 eroded; authorizing the secretary of the department to 
 11 require coastal local governments to develop local 
 12 strategic beach management plans; requiring that such 
 13 plans include an analysis of certain information; 
 14 making a technical change; amending s. 161.161, F.S.; 
 15 conforming a provision to changes made by the act; 
 16 amending s. 380.05, F.S.; revising the list of areas 
 17 that may receive designation as an area of critical 
 18 state concern; reenacting s. 380.045(1), (3), and (5), 
 19 F.S., relating to resource planning and management 
 20 committees and objectives and procedures, to 
 21 incorporate the amendment made to s. 380.05, F.S., in 
 22 references thereto; providing an effective date. 
 23 
 24 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 25 
 26 Section 1. Subsections (1) and (2) of section 161.101, 
 27 Florida Statutes, are amended to read: 
 28 161.101 State and local participation in authorized 
 29 projects and studies relating to beach management and erosion 
 30 control.— 
 31 (1)(a) The Legislature recognizes that beach erosion is a 
 32 statewide problem that does not confine its effects to local 
 33 governmental jurisdictions and that beach erosion can be 
 34 adequately addressed most efficiently by a state-initiated 
 35 program of beach restoration and beach nourishment. However, 
 36 since local beach communities derive the primary benefits from 
 37 the presence of adequate beaches, a program of beach restoration 
 38 and beach nourishment should not be accomplished without a 
 39 commitment of local funds to combat the problem of beach 
 40 erosion. 
 41 (b) Accordingly, the Legislature declares that the state, 
 42 through the department, shall determine those beaches which are 
 43 critically eroded and in need of restoration and nourishment and 
 44 may authorize appropriations to pay up to 75 percent of the 
 45 actual costs for restoring and nourishing a critically eroded 
 46 beach. The local government in which such a beach is located is 
 47 responsible for the balance of such costs. In designating 
 48 beaches as critically eroded, the department shall review data 
 49 related to beaches that have been preemptively and repeatedly 
 50 repaired to avoid complete erosion and for which private 
 51 funding, local government funding, and state and federal grants 
 52 have been expended to stop or mitigate such erosion. 
 53 (c) If a local government with jurisdiction over a beach 
 54 that possesses all of the following features has a financial 
 55 plan that ensures the preservation of funding for inclusion in 
 56 the state strategic beach management plan, such beach must be 
 57 designated as critically eroded: 
 58 1. The local government possesses a perpetual easement that 
 59 contains language stating the local government must assume 
 60 maintenance responsibilities for shoreline parcels and must 
 61 develop and implement a design whereby shoreline retreat is 
 62 sufficiently managed to protect high value inland developments; 
 63 and 
 64 2. Geological features of the dune, beach, and seabed 
 65 combined with insufficient spacing between the erosion control 
 66 line to upland assets, which results in repeated inland flooding 
 67 or structural damage The local government in which the beach is 
 68 located shall be responsible for the balance of such costs. 
 69 (2)(a) To carry out the beach and shore preservation 
 70 programs, the department is hereby constituted as the beach and 
 71 shore preservation authority for the state. In this capacity, 
 72 the secretary of the department may at his or her own initiative 
 73 take all necessary steps as soon as practicable and desirable to 
 74 implement the provisions of this chapter. 
 75 (b) The secr