Reinstate the Trump Migratory Bird Treaty Act rule

Research notes

The Trump position on incidental take lived in two documents: Solicitor’s Opinion M-37050 (2017) and the regulation codifying it (86 FR 1134, January 2021). The opinion is back; the regulation is not.

Resolved — H.R. 6021 is an adjacent bill, not this ask (reviewed 2026-09-24; read in full 2026-09-23). The Archie Cavanaugh Migratory Bird Treaty Clarification Act passed the House by voice vote under suspension on 2026-09-14 (not 2026-09-15, the date of its Senate referral to Environment and Public Works, which was first taken from the latest action), per govinfo’s bill-status file (govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/119/hr/BILLSTATUS-119hr6021.xml). The engrossed text was read in full at govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119hr6021eh/html/BILLS-119hr6021eh.htm.

It is the narrow Alaska measure it first appeared to be. It directs State and Interior to work out bilateral procedures under the 1974 migratory bird convention with Japan “to clarify the treatment of authentic Alaska Native articles of handicraft to be offered for sale containing nonedible migratory bird parts”, lets Interior modify the MBTA regulations to implement them, and adds a comma to 16 U.S.C. 703. It says nothing about incidental take, does not codify the M-37050 reading, and would not displace M-37085, which this item’s 2025-04-11 event rests on. Progress is measured on this ask, not on an adjacent bill, so it moves nothing. Status unchanged: partial (2025-04-11). A Federal Register API search for FWS documents on “incidental take” and “migratory bird” from 2026-08-20 returned only the 2026–2027 refuge hunting and fishing rule, so the January 2021 regulation has still not been reissued.