LANSING, MI (WTVB) – Legislation introduced by Sen. Jonathan Lindsey (R-Coldwater) to officially reestablish and certify the Michigan-Indiana border received final approval from the Michigan House week and will head back to the Senate for a concurrence vote.
The original border has not been surveyed since before Michigan was granted statehood, and the resulting blurred lines have led to numerous complications involving legal issues, property disputes, Great Lakes preservation responsibilities, and traffic enforcement. Both states agree on the necessity of a modern survey; however, previous efforts have stalled due to difficulty in securing surveying companies to manage the project statewide.
Lindsey’s bill, Senate Bill 595, passed both legislative chambers with unanimous, bipartisan support.
It addresses the setbacks by extending the project timeline and amending a 2022 law to allow individual border counties, which have expressed a willingness to handle the task, to conduct the necessary surveys themselves. This change is intended to “eliminate that barrier” and finally allow the multistate project to be completed.
Following a final procedural vote in the Senate to agree with the House’s amendment, the legislation will advance to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her signature.
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