Alaska Natives can sell handmade ivory crafts from hunted marine mammals.

What it does

The bill lets Alaska Natives hunt walruses and whales. They can sell handmade crafts made from ivory, teeth, and bones across state lines. The crafts must be made by hand using old methods. The federal government can still set hunting limits. Limits apply if a marine mammal species runs low.

Who it affects

Alaska Native artisans gain the legal right to hunt marine mammals. They can sell handmade crafts. Alaska Native communities dependent on hunting and selling ivory items are protected from state-level bans.

One thing to notice

The bill does not set up a federal system to track ivory craft sales. States must enforce the rules about what counts as handmade.

From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.

Where it stands

1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.

• Jan 24, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
• Jan 24, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation”
• Jun 25, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of…”
• Oct 8, 2025 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S7007-7009; text: CR S7008)”
• Jun 2, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Westerman moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill”
• Jun 3, 2026 — Passed both chambers · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 404 - 14…”
• Jun 8, 2026 — Sent to president · Congress.gov: “Presented to President”
• Jun 12, 2026 — Signed into law · Congress.gov: “Became Public Law No: 119-99”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 1 reports from Jun 2026 to Jun 2026.

Those reports show $220,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 30 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.

More groups named this bill than 0% of bills with any report.

Dan Sullivan, who sponsored the bill, received $2,114,700 from PACs for the 2026 election.

• World Wildlife Fund, Inc. — $220,000 in 1 report

Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.

Words to know

• handmade — Made by a person's hands, not by a machine or factory.
• hunting limits — Rules that set how many animals a person can hunt.
• state-level bans — Laws passed by a state that forbid something.
• federal — Belonging to the national government, not a state.
• lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
• PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.