Committee hears technical update to Michigan's plane coordinate system to match federal modernization

Brett Hollingsworth told the House Regulatory Reform Committee that House Bill 5577 would update Michigan's legal plane coordinate system to align with the National Spatial Reference System modernization (the 2022 NSRS), a federal modernization scheduled for rollout that affects surveying, mapping and infrastructure work.

Hollingsworth said the change is technical but foundational: plane coordinate systems convert latitude and longitude into local x-y coordinates used by surveyors, engineers and agencies for highways, bridges, utilities, floodplains and property boundaries. He said the Federal Geospatial Data Act and federal modernization plans make state alignment necessary to avoid inconsistencies in funded projects.

Committee members asked operational questions, including whether the change would affect border disputes; the witness said it would not shift legal boundaries but would improve repeatability and reduce ad hoc lookups for legacy references.

Next steps: Committee took no vote on the measure at this hearing; staff and the witness offered to provide follow-up information if requested.