A week before session last year, bill filings hit about the average of 1900. There may be several issues at play like the governor’s race, competing chamber priorities, and fatigue from what felt like a never ending 2025 Session. Above all else, however, is the property tax discussion. The House has blazed a trail releasing eight property tax bills, while the Senate is evaluating the issue but has not released its own proposal(s). For beaches though, as we turn the page to 2026, focusing on funding is paramount this Session, which runs from January 13 to March 13. 



If you have been tracking the association’s efforts recently, you will notice an increased focus on federal advocacy, and we expect more of the same this year. FSBPA’s agenda is in line with the past couple years. Along with our traditional advocacy for programmatic funding and beneficial policies in the Florida Legislature, we continue to advocate to resolve the federal easement issue, especially with a new Water Resources Development Act bill expected late this year. In addition, for our Florida Legislative Program, we are pushing to increase recurring funding and for a refresh of the 2015 OPPAGA beach study. As always, we keep close tabs on all policy and appropriations bills affecting beaches – positive or negative.



The 2026/27 Appropriations Process and Budget Outlook 

FSBPA’s agenda for the 2026 Legislative Session is aggressive – increase recurring funding to $75 million, advocate for full funding of the LGFR list from non-recurring trust fund or general revenue, provide additional supplemental funding for hurricane recovery, refresh the OPPAGA study, and allow the HRRGP to finally sunset. While it will be a heavy lift, we are mindful that these discussions must take place against the backdrop of what is anticipated to be a major debate between the chambers on property taxes and continuation of the budget tensions from last session. 

Speaking of budgeting, during the 1st committee week, Amy Baker, the state’s lead economist, gave an update on the state’s long-range economic outlook, which continues to tighten. The state was expected to be in a budget deficit this upcoming fiscal year, 2026-27, with a worsening outlook in FY27-28. Because of the reductions in the current year budget, that looming budget deficit was postponed one year. For FY26-27, the state is expected to have a budget surplus of $3.8B, with 70% coming from non-recurring sources. The outlook for FYs 27-28 and 28-29 is decidedly worse, with budget deficits estimated at $1.5B and $6.6B, respectively. Ms. Baker stated, unequivocally, the revenue forecast will not support current levels of spending with expected growth in costs. Further, to resolve the budget deficits in all three years, she estimated cuts of $674M from recurring and $1.4B from non- recurring each year would be sufficient. When this is added on top of the property tax discussion and the potential that the state back fills tax revenue losses for fiscally constrained counties, the entire budgetary process in the near term is tight. 

If you are looking for a bright spot, there is one. Doc stamp collections, which fund our programs, snapped a steep 2-year decline and are inching higher again. They are estimated to close out this fiscal year up 1.5 percent over FY24-25 to $3.76B. Stronger growth is expected through 2031 of approximately 3 percent per year, with an exception for FY26-27 at 3.8 percent growth. Given the Legislature sweeps much of this revenue into the General Revenue Fund each year, I expect the same result this year and every year they deal with budget shortfalls. Nevertheless, the funding source for our program is projected to grow, which is good news. 

Governor’s Budget 

On December 10, 2025, Governor DeSantis released his proposed FY2026-27 budget. The $117.4B budget has several bright spots related to beaches and coasts. The first is an increase for beaches to $75M for programmatic funding for the statewide beach program. In addition, the governor proposes an additional $208M in resilience funding, with $58M of that to protect and restore coral reefs. He also proposed increased funding of $65M to address harmful algal blooms. For a complete breakdown of the budget, visit The Floridians First budget link. If you have any questions regarding the budget, please contact me. 

Substantive Legislation

We are actively tracking several bills, but FSBPA is only pursuing the HRRGP and OPPAGA issues as substantive policy this legislative session in Florida. As mentioned above, we are also pushing for clarification and more flexibility in WRDA 2026 in Congress. In addition, we are keeping an eye out for TDT funding bills especially vis-à-vis the property tax bills released by the House. As always, we continue to monitor any bills seeking direct statutory allocations of limited recurring LATF dollars and new climate change/coastal resilience initiatives. If there are substantive bills or issues you would like to discuss in depth, please contact me. 

We look forward to again serving the needs of Florida’s beaches in 2026. 

Happy New Year!

We are excited to kick off 2026 with the 39th National Conference on Beach Preservation Technology at the Embassy Suites in St. Augustine Beach. There is always a great turnout at this venue, and based on early feedback, we expect an even larger turnout this year. Please make plans to join us. Lisa Armbruster and the Conference Planning Committee prepared an exceptional program for you featuring timely coastal project updates, construction innovations, and research advancements. A big thanks to the Committee Members for sharing your time and expertise on preparing the program.

Early bird registration rates end today! Be sure to register for next month's conference now to save early. For more information, visit this link.

Meet the Tech Conference Planning Committee Members

Chair

Lisa Armbruster

Executive Members

Ken Craig, P.E., Taylor Engineering, Inc.

Chris Creed, P.E., Olsen Associates, Inc.

Lauren Floyd, Coastal Protection Engineering

Michael Poff, P.E., Coastal Engineering Consultants, Inc.

Committee Members

Jennifer Bistyga

Mike Dombrowski

Bob Glassen

Scott Hardaway

James Houston

Mike Jenkins

John Ramsey

Will Reilly

Angela Schedel

Nicole Sharp

Lee Weisher

Conference Highlights and Presentations to Watch

• Pre-conference workshop: Outlook on Florida Coastal Dredging
• Post-Milton Midnight Pass Inlet Evolution and Management
• Development of a County Coastal Management Plan: St. Johns County
• Designing Turtle Friendly Beaches: Engineering, Ecology, and Regulatory Perspectives
• FDEP’s Regional Offshore Sand Source Inventory (ROSSI) Project Submittal Challenges and Updates
• Quantifying the Benefits of Engineering Adaptations and Nature-Based Solutions on Barrier Island Community Resilience
• A Journey from Easements to Storms to Construction: A Joint Discussion with Pinellas County and APTIM on the County’s Beach Nourishment Project

FSBPA is further pleased to share that our student scholarship program remains strong with many new students attending. Please be sure to take time to visit these up-and-coming professionals and learn about their exciting work. Special thanks to our scholarship sponsors - Michael Poff, James Gray, and Justin McBride - for helping make this program a big success!

Thank you to our Conference Sponsors!

Sponsorships are still available! For more information on available sponsorships, visit our website.

2026 Ocean's Day

PO Box 13146, Tallahassee FL 32317

Phone: (850) 906-9227 • mail@fsbpa.com