05 • 03 • 2008
Florida Beach Test Funding Protected
During a year of heavy budget cuts it usually the items that are thought to be the most benign that are first to go. So when House Health Care Council puts beach monitoring in the same line item with birth registries and cesspools it bound to get over overlooked as important. A proposal to cut the entire state portion of beach monitoring would be a disaster to the public’s health and safety, especially in a state that derives 85% of its tourism from its coastline. Thanks to the efforts of the Florida Chapters funding won't be cut. The Florida portion of the federal Beach Act grant for next year is $526,320 and state funding will remain intact at $525,000.