The bill, known as the Joe Faust Living Shoreline Act, aims to promote the use of natural shoreline restoration techniques, known as "living shorelines," for shoreline stabilization in coastal areas of Alabama. These techniques include planting native vegetation, placing wave attenuation structures, and using fill material to allow natural coastal processes to continue. The bill recognizes that dredging sand and sediment material within a residential property owner's riparian area is the most effective source for living shoreline restoration, serving a public purpose by reducing erosion, improving wildlife and fish habitats, and increasing coastal infrastructure resiliency.

To facilitate this, the State Lands Division of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is authorized to issue permits to residential riparian property owners to dredge within their riparian area or adjacent property (with the owner's consent) for sand and source sediment to be used for constructing a living shoreline. The fee for such a permit will be half the cost of a standard dredge permit for severance of materials from state-owned submerged lands. The bill also includes provisions for the Department to adopt rules for implementing the act, clarifies that it does not affect the title to state-owned submerged lands, and limits its authority to properties touching the Gulf of Mexico proper, including Mobile Bay and other connected water bodies. The act is set to become effective on October 1, 2024.