US Senate passes bill intended to shield Alaska Native artists from states’ ivory bans
- Alaska Beacon
- Oct 10
- 2 min read
By James Brooks
Alaska Beacon
The U.S. Senate has unanimously approved a bill that would allow Alaska Natives to continue sales of traditional ivory art in states that have passed laws banning the ivory trade.
The ARTIST Act, by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, is intended to address state-level bans that were instituted to limit demand for elephant ivory but have also affected products made with mammoth and walrus ivory, marine mammal bone or baleen produced by Alaska Natives.
Harvesting and carving walrus ivory is legal under federal law, but Sullivan said that laws passed by different states have dissuaded tourists from buying ivory art when they visit Alaska.
The Senate passed the bill without dissent on Tuesday, and it advances to the House for further action.
In a speech on the Senate floor, Sullivan thanked his fellow senators for approving the bill, which was introduced in 2024 but did not pass into law before the new Congress began in January. Sullivan reintroduced the bill, and it advanced through the Senate anew.
“States have gone too far and cast this huge net and have said you can’t buy any ivory products anywhere, including Alaska Native products from Alaska walrus … this really has hurt my state, Sullivan said.
“This is a simple bill. If a visitor wants to come buy some ivory earrings in Alaska … and bring them home to a state with a ban on ivory … we want to be able to say at the federal level that we should be able to do this,” he said.
The bill has the support of the Alaska Federation of Natives, World Wildlife Fund, and Eskimo Walrus Commission, plus various Alaska Native groups and corporations.
• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
