House moves to simplify how Michigan landowners post their property against trespass

Michigan landowners frustrated by hunters and hikers wandering onto private acreage would get clearer authority to post No Trespassing signs under a measure that has now cleared its first Senate hurdle.

The bill (HB 4013), carried by Rep. Slagh, tweaks the recreational trespass act so that the act of posting itself, in a manner the law spells out, signals that entry without permission is prohibited. Sportsmen's groups say the existing system creates uncertainty about what counts as adequate notice. Some recreation advocates worry tighter posting rules could shrink informal public access.

The House passed the bill 103 to 1 on Roll Call No. 50 on April 14 with six members not voting and gave it immediate effect. The Senate took it up in committee and reported it favorably without amendment on December 10, then referred it to the Committee of the Whole.

A floor vote in the Senate would put it on track for the governor's desk.