{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/release/sullivan-murkowski-introduce-the-allowing-alaska-ivory-act", "Sullivan, Murkowski Introduce the Allowing Alaska IVORY Act", "2017-10-19", "2017", "2017-10", "Republican", "House", "AK", "Lisa Murkowski", "M001153", "www.murkowski.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "10.19.17\n\t\t\t Sullivan, Murkowski Introduce the Allowing Alaska IVORY Act \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tU.S. Senators Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, this week introduced S. 1965, the Allowing Alaska IVORY Act. The legislation would preempt states from banning walrus ivory or whale bone products that have been legally carved by Alaska Natives under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Additionally, the bill preempts states from issuing bans on mammoth ivory products.\r\nAt last year\u2019s Alaska Federation of Natives Convention, Senator Sullivan held a Senate Environment and Public Works field hearing to examine state laws across the country that prohibit ivory sales and harm Alaska Native artisans. \u00a0Since that hearing, Senator Sullivan has been working with Alaska Native leaders and those negatively impacted by the bans to craft legislation that addresses their concerns.\r\n\u201cAlaska Native and rural economies across our state are being negatively impacted by overly broad bans on not just elephant ivory but walrus and mammoth ivory,\u201d said Senator Sullivan. \u201cThese products allow not just valuable artistic and cultural expressions, but vital income for many rural Alaskans. Further, the Fish and Wildlife Service and members of the conservation community have recognized that these broad state bans have little benefit to combatting the poaching problem, while creating confusion on the\u00a0part of buyers of Alaskan ivory. Our bill will cut the confusion, and carry out the true intent of our existing laws to allow Alaskan Natives and Alaskans to responsibly use their resources to access economic opportunity while maintaining centuries old cultural practices.\u201d\r\n\u201cA number of states have enacted legislation claimed to be aimed at combating the illicit elephant ivory trade, which is something we all want to fight,\u201d said Senator Murkowski. \u201cHowever, the legislation being passed by many of these states would prevent Americans from purchasing and possessing traditional Alaska Native handicrafts derived from marine mammal and locally found fossilized Mammoth ivory, thus destroying a legal and culturally rich economic source for many Alaska Natives. Sadly, state ivory bans were enacted without any attempt at consultation with indigenous groups who create this type of cultural art or lawmakers from states where it is part of our history. The Constitution assigns Congress the power to legislate on matters involving our first peoples. We join together today to protect important sources of income for Alaska\u2019s indigenous people, their culture, and an important part of our state\u2019s history by preempting this vastly overreaching state legislation.\u201d\r\nIn addition to introducing the IVORY Act this week, the Alaska Congressional Delegation wrote the National Governors Association and National Conference of State Legislatures to highlight the \u201cpotentially devastating and unintended consequences of broadly crafted state ivory bans that are currently in place or under consideration in nearly half of the United States.\u201d CLICK HERE to read the letter.\r\nIn August 2016 Senator Murkowski wrote Governor Brown of California to ask whether his state\u2019s overreaching legislation was intended to harm the market for Alaska Native handicrafts\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n    \n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n     \n\t\n \n\t\n    \n    \n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t  \n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/release/sullivan-murkowski-introduce-the-allowing-alaska-ivory-act"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2017739936709404, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}