AL HB215

Establishes the Joe Faust Living Shoreline Act to encourage natural shoreline restoration techniques (native vegetation, wave structures, fill material) instead of vertical seawalls and bulkheads.

Authorizes the State Lands Division of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to issue dredging permits to residential riparian property owners to extract sand and sediment from their own riparian area for living shoreline construction.

Permit fees set at one-half the cost of standard dredge permits for severance of materials from state-owned submerged lands.

Permits allow dredging on the property owner's riparian area or immediately adjacent property with the adjacent owner's consent, with extracted material used only for living shoreline construction on the residential owner's riparian property.

Authority limited to property bounded by and touching the Gulf of Mexico proper, including Mobile Bay and connected waters south of Mobile River mile 0.0; becomes effective October 1, 2024.