Senate Bill
Dan Sullivan
Senator
Cosponsors
1
Policy Area
Summary
The ARTIST Act prohibits states from banning marine mammal products legally produced by Alaska Natives as authentic handicrafts and clothing. It protects the importation, sale, and possession of ivory, bone, and baleen products from traditional Native craftsmanship.
Latest Action
Held at the desk.
Plain-English explanation of this bill
The ARTIST Act prohibits states from banning marine mammal products legally produced by Alaska Natives as authentic handicrafts and clothing. It protects the importation, sale, and possession of ivory, bone, and baleen products from traditional Native craftsmanship.
Last updated: 1/5/2026
Congressional Research Service summary
<p><strong>Alaska’s Right To Ivory Sales and Tradition Act or the ARTIST Act</strong></p><p>This bill prohibits states from imposing bans on marine mammal products produced by Alaska Natives.</p><p>Specifically, states may not prohibit the importation, sale, transfer, trade, barter, or possession of marine mammal ivory, marine mammal bone, or baleen legally produced by an Alaska Native as an authentic Alaska Native article of handicrafts and clothing.</p>
Main provisions of the bill
Potential effects on citizens and communities
Alaska Native artisans would maintain markets for traditional crafts in all states. Cultural traditions involving marine mammal materials would be protected. States with ivory bans would not be able to restrict authentic Native products.
Primary Policy Area
Related Subjects
Jurisdiction Level
federal
Congressional Session
119th Congress
Citation Reference
254, 119th Congress (2025). "ARTIST Act". Source: Voter's Right Platform. https://votersright.org/bills/118-s-254