ARTIST Act

Key Points

• This bill, called the ARTIST Act, protects the rights of Alaska Natives to create and sell traditional handicrafts made from marine mammal ivory, such as walrus tusks or whale teeth.
• It prevents states from passing their own laws to ban the sale or possession of these authentic items, ensuring artists can sell their work to collectors and tourists across the country without fear of legal trouble.
• To qualify as 'authentic,' the items must be handmade by Alaska Natives using traditional methods like carving or weaving, and they cannot be made using machines that mass-produce copies.
• The bill also allows Alaska Natives to continue hunting marine mammals for food and using the leftover materials for their art, as long as the hunting is not done in a wasteful way.
• While the bill protects these traditions, the government can still set limits if a specific animal species becomes endangered, but they must use both scientific data and Indigenous knowledge to make that decision.

Impact Analysis

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