S254-119

What This Bill Does

The ARTIST Act rewrites the Alaska Native exemption in section 101(b) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. It prevents States from banning specified transactions in marine-mammal ivory, bone, or baleen incorporated into authentic Alaska Native handicrafts or clothing. This is not a general authorization to trade raw ivory or elephant ivory. Covered makers must reside in Alaska and dwell on the North Pacific or Arctic coast; authentic articles must use natural materials wholly or in significant part and traditional methods without mass-copying devices. The bill retains nonwasteful subsistence taking and taking for making and selling authentic articles, subject to section 109 and depleted-stock safeguards.

Who Benefits and How

Alaska Native artisans gain protection from State market restrictions on qualifying finished articles, potentially increasing sales opportunities. Native subsistence users retain the exemption and access to edible portions sold for Native consumption or in an Alaska Native village or town. Alaska Native organizations representing covered persons can invoke a written, publicly available substantial-evidence explanation that considers the whole record, including Indigenous knowledge, in the actions specified by the bill. Tribal governments receive an express savings clause for existing rights and government-to-government consultation. Buyers of authentic Native artwork may face fewer State barriers, but mass-produced imitations do not qualify.

Who Bears the Burden and How

State wildlife regulators lose authority to impose the listed prohibitions on qualifying incorporated materials, not all wildlife products. The responsible federal Secretary must meet the new evidentiary and website-disclosure requirement only in an action brought by a qualifying Alaska Native organization; the bill does not apply this obligation to every agency proceeding. Under the parent statute, the Department of the Interior handles walrus jurisdiction, while the Department of Commerce and NOAA handle cetaceans. Artisans still face authenticity, residency, nonwasteful-taking, and applicable depleted-stock rules. Federal agencies retain authority to regulate depleted stocks after notice and hearing. The bill provides no appropriation and does not establish a harvest quota; neither higher harvest levels nor specific conservation results are guaranteed by its text.

Key Provisions

• Amends the marine-mammal ivory definition to include a walrus tooth or tusk or that of a species of cetacean, and specifies traditional handicraft methods and the exclusion of mass-copying devices.
• Prohibits State bans on interstate commerce and other listed transactions in qualifying ivory, bone, or baleen incorporated into authentic Alaska Native articles.
• Provides for continued depleted-stock regulation with notice and hearing, and requires removal of restrictions when the Secretary determines their need has disappeared.
• Requires a written public substantial-evidence explanation, considering Indigenous knowledge, for covered decisions only when the organizational-action condition applies.
• Protects existing Tribal rights and government-to-government consultation, and permits specified edible-portion sales without requiring handicraft creation to be the primary purpose of the taking.