Funding for the EPA BEACH Grants program was saved by Congress for the third year in a row, with the passage of the $1.1 trillion federal spending bill in mid-December, 2014. This bill includes $9.549 million for the BEACH Grants to keep state and local beach water quality monitoring and public notification programs in operation for another year. This funding is essential to protect public health for the millions of people who visit our nation's beaches every year and the multi-billion dollar coastal economies that they support.