The Beach Management Funding Assistance Program works with local sponsors to achieve protection, restoration, and nourishment of the sandy beaches fronting the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Straits of Florida, and for the management of inlets to replicate the natural drift of sand interrupted by improved, modified, or altered inlets. The Department requests funding from the Legislature to implement the program and this Rule Chapter establishes funding request procedures, project ranking criteria, cost sharing procedures, and project agreement requirements. The amendment revises the project ranking criteria that the Department must consider in determining and assigning annual funding priorities for beach management and erosion control projects and with respect to managing inlets.