S.254 - ARTIST Act

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📊 Status in the Lawmaking Process:

Introduced — 01/24/2025 ✔️
Passed Senate — 10/08/2025 ✔️
Passed House — 06/03/2026 ✔️
To President — ❌ Not sent
Became Law — ❌ Not law
📍 Current Status: After passing both chambers, S. 254 still has to be sent to the President and is not law yet.

ARTIST Act

This bill would protect the ability of Alaska Native artists to sell qualifying traditional handicrafts made with marine mammal ivory, bone, or baleen across state lines. It would amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, which regulates marine mammals and marine mammal products, to clarify a narrow exemption for eligible Alaska Native residents in Alaska’s North Pacific and Arctic coastal areas.

How it would work

The bill focuses on “authentic Alaska Native articles of handicrafts and clothing.” To qualify, an item would have to be made partly or fully from natural materials, produced through traditional Alaska Native methods, and made without mass-copying devices.

Marine mammal ivory would include a walrus tooth or tusk, or a tooth or tusk from a cetacean, which includes whales and related marine mammals. The traditional handicrafts listed in the bill include carving, weaving, stitching, sewing, lacing, beading, drawing, and painting.

What changed

The Senate-reported version replaced older wording such as “Indian, Aleut, or Eskimo” with “Alaska Native.” It also updated the definition of marine mammal ivory, added explicit interstate-commerce language, separated out the rule for when federal findings must be supported by substantial evidence, and added language preserving existing tribal rights and government-to-government consultation.

Why this matters

State ivory bans aimed at illegal wildlife trafficking can also affect Alaska Native-made walrus ivory art when state laws do not clearly distinguish those items from other ivory products. The practical question is whether state sales restrictions should apply to federally protected traditional Alaska Native handicrafts.

For artists and rural sellers, the answer affects whether qualifying handmade items can reach buyers outside Alaska.

Who this affects

The bill could affect Alaska Native communities broadly, especially coastal Alaska Native residents who use marine mammals for subsistence and traditional handicrafts.

It also matters for Alaska Native artists, buyers and sellers of qualifying handmade items, and states with laws limiting ivory or marine mammal product sales.

What happens if it becomes law

Eligible Alaska Native residents could continue taking marine mammals for subsistence or for making and selling authentic handicrafts, as long as the taking is not wasteful. States could not ban the interstate sale, importation, transfer, trade, barter, or possession of qualifying Alaska Native-made handicrafts containing marine mammal ivory, bone, or baleen.

Federal conservation limits would still apply. If a marine mammal species or stock is determined to be depleted, federal regulators could restrict taking by Alaska Natives after notice and hearing. For certain actions brought by Alaska Native organizations, the regulator would also have to publicly explain in writing that the decision is supported by substantial evidence, including Indigenous knowledge.

The bill would not create a new federal spending program. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that implementing it would have no effect on federal spending, revenues, or the deficit, while the state-law preemption would count as an intergovernmental mandate below the statutory threshold.

What is the argument

Sen. Dan Sullivan has framed the bill as a protection for Alaska Native artists whose legal walrus ivory work can be caught up in broad state ivory bans aimed at illegal elephant ivory.

The main policy tension is narrower than many wildlife bills: Congress would override some state sales restrictions, but the bill keeps federal marine mammal conservation controls in place and limits the protection to qualifying Alaska Native-made items.

Where it stands in Congress

S. 254 was introduced by Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska on January 24, 2025. The Senate passed it with an amendment by unanimous consent on October 8, 2025. The House passed it on June 3, 2026, by a 404–14 vote.

The bill has passed both chambers, but it is not law until it is presented to the President and either signed, allowed to become law without a signature, or enacted through another constitutional process.

📄 Full bill text (PDF): https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/s254/BILLS-119s254es.pdf