YourVoice.Now Summary
Your MoneyCriminal Justice & Due ProcessEnvironmentAlaska Native artists could sell crafts made with bird parts — a federal ban blocks that today.
Your Money
Bird law now blocks selling or shipping most items made with bird parts. This bill would let Alaska Native artists earn money from that work.
Criminal Justice & Due Process
The ban covers the item itself, so just holding one can break the law. The bill would lift that risk for real Alaska Native handicrafts.
Environment
The ban on trading bird parts would stay for everyone else. It would still cover parts from birds killed illegally or in a wasteful way.
More about this bill
If you are an Alaska Native artist, you could legally sell handmade work that contains bird feathers or bone. You could also own, carry, ship, or trade it. Federal bird law bars those sales today. Breaking that ban is a federal crime. To use the exception, you would need a tribal enrollment card, a federal blood-degree card, or a state Silver Hand permit. The exception covers hand-made items from found, foraged, or gifted materials. That includes weaving, carving, beading, sewing, drawing, painting, and clothing. Copies made by machine do not count. Parts from birds killed illegally or wastefully stay off limits. Within 180 days, the Interior Department would update its rules. The State Department would also work out matching terms with the treaty countries. Most people would see no change in daily life.
Congressional Summary
This bill states that nothing in the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (MBTA) prohibits possessing, selling, bartering, purchasing, shipping, or transporting any authentic Alaska Native handicraft, clothing, or art on the basis that it contains a nonedible migratory bird part, so long as the bird was not taken in a wasteful or illegal manner. (The MBTA implements four international treaties that the United States entered into with Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Russia. The MBTA prohibits the taking of protected migratory bird species without prior authorization.)The bill directs the Department of State to work with the Department of the Interior to enter into appropriate bilateral procedures with countries that are parties to the treaties under the MBTA to clarify the treatment of Alaska Native handicraft containing nonedible migratory bird parts from the species of migratory birds listed in those treaties. Further, Interior must modify any regulations implementing the MBTA to implement this bill.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-11-12
- Date Added
- 2026-04-09
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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