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HR 5694 Advanced toward a vote

Amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act to let Alaska Natives take marine mammals for handicraft making and sale, allow those handicrafts to be sold across state lines, and bar states from banning their sale.

Official title: ARTIST Act

Next stop House floor: awaiting a vote
Timeline each lane is a chamber; dates pull from congress.gov actions
House
Introduced 06-OCT-2025
Referred 06-OCT-2025
Approved by committee 14-MAY-2026
Reported 02-JUN-2026
On the calendar 02-JUN-2026
Key points
  • Defines an authentic Alaska Native handicraft as one made wholly or in significant part from natural materials, without pantographs or mass-copying devices, by an Alaska Native who lives in Alaska on the North Pacific or Arctic coast.
  • Exempts Alaska Native taking of marine mammals for subsistence or for making and selling authentic handicrafts from the Act's provisions, as long as the taking is not wasteful.
  • Allows items presented as authentic handicrafts to be sold in interstate commerce, and allows edible portions of marine mammals taken for handicrafts to be sold for native consumption or in Alaska native villages and towns.
  • Prohibits states from banning the sale, transfer, or possession of marine mammal ivory, bone, or baleen used in authentic handicrafts by Alaska Natives.
  • Lets the Secretary restrict taking of depleted stocks after notice and hearing, and requires written findings supported by substantial evidence, including Indigenous knowledge, when an Alaska Native organization brings an action.
  • States that nothing in the section affects the rights of Indian Tribes or undermines government-to-government consultation.
AI-generated from the Reported in House text of 02-JUN-2026 · verify · report an error
Official CRS summary

Covers an older version. The newest CRS summary describes the bill as of "Introduced in House" (06-OCT-2025); the text has changed since (Reported in House, 02-JUN-2026).

CRS is the Library of Congress's nonpartisan research office. Read it on congress.gov
Committee referrals (2) Policy area

Native Americans

Sponsor Nicholas J. Begich (R-AK) Cosponsors · 0

No cosponsors.