All Roll Calls
Yes: 404 • No: 14
119-s-254119th Congress
ARTIST Act
Sponsored By: Senator Sullivan, Dan [R-AK]
Became Law
Summary
Protects Alaska Native cultural practices and handicraft economies. It amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act to create explicit exemptions allowing Alaska Natives who live in Alaska to take marine mammals for subsistence and to make and sell authentic Alaska Native handicrafts and clothing that include marine mammal ivory, bone, or baleen, subject to defined limits and guardrails.
Show full summary
- Alaska Native families and artisans can continue subsistence harvesting and sell authentic handicrafts and clothing if they reside in Alaska and follow rules that prevent wasteful use.
- Sellers of compliant items can engage in interstate commerce because the law bars states from prohibiting interstate sales of authentic Alaska Native handicrafts that contain marine mammal ivory, bone, or baleen.
- Federal regulations and legal review must meet substantial evidence standards and incorporate Indigenous knowledge. The law also protects tribal rights, preserves government to government consultation, and limits certain legal actions to those brought by Alaska Native organizations.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 0 costs, 2 mixed.
Subsistence and handicraft sales for Alaska Natives
The law lets Alaska Natives who live on Alaska’s Pacific or Arctic coast take marine mammals for food or to make and sell items. An “authentic Alaska Native” item is mostly natural materials and made by a covered Alaska Native. It must use traditional methods like weaving or carving, and no pantographs, multiple carvers, or other mass‑copying devices. If an item meets that definition, it can be sold across state lines, and states cannot ban the sale, transfer, or possession of ivory, bone, or baleen in such items. Edible parts from a take for these items may be sold only for native consumption or inside a native village or town in Alaska.
Stronger rules on federal limits for Alaska Native taking
The Secretary may set limits by species, stock, area, or season on Alaska Native taking, but only after a required public notice and hearing. If a stock is depleted, limits can be set and must be removed once they are no longer needed. When Alaska Native organizations challenge an action, the Secretary must post a written explanation showing substantial evidence, using the whole record and Indigenous knowledge. That explanation must be publicly available on the agency’s website. The law does not change any Tribe’s existing rights or government‑to‑government consultation.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Sullivan, Dan [R-AK]
AK • R
Cosponsors
Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]
AK • R
Sponsored 1/24/2025
Roll Call Votes
house vote • 6/3/2026
On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass
Yes: 404 • No: 14