(LANSING) - Legislation outlining Michigan’s role to formally establish and permanently mark the border between Michigan and Indiana has passed both Michigan legislatures

Senate Bills 627 and 628, sponsored by Republican State Senator Kim LaSata, were approved by both the Michigan Senate and the Michigan House of Representatives. The bills would establish a state commission responsible for meeting with representatives from a similar body in Indiana, to make recommendations on how to proceed with the survey process. They must also receive final approval from each state to move forward.

LaSata says the current borderline between Michigan and Indiana relies on survey information from the 1800's. She says this is the only area of the State that still does not have a clearly outlined and properly surveyed border. LaSata says borders with Ohio and Wisconsin have been revisited, so there is both precedent and a need for this project.

While the survey is not expected to make major boundary movements, LaSata’s legislation, along with funding approved in the fiscal year 2022 budget, would fulfill Michigan’s obligations in the joint effort between both states to clearly outline and mark the borderline. Similar funding was approved in Indiana.

Unclear borderlines have left both states facing legal difficulties over the years. LaSata says matters like traffic accidents and other crimes, along with property disputes that take place in areas that don’t clearly belong to one state or another make legal proceedings difficult as law enforcement and the courts are then tasked with determining which state’s laws are applicable.

State responsibilities regarding invasive species and potential land developments have also been complicated by the lack of a traceable borderline between the states.

The bills will now go to Governor Gretchen Whitmer for final consideration.