Senate spurns border debate

NASHVILLE, Tenn. --- Tennessee senators say they don't want to participate in a boundary commission proposed by Georgia legislators to consider moving the states' border.

Members of the Senate State and Local Government Committee voted unanimously Tuesday for a resolution that formally rejects any participation in such a commission.

The measure unanimously passed the House.

Both chambers of the GOP-controlled Georgia Legislature last month passed a resolution that calls on their governor to establish a commission to try to rectify a 19th century survey that mistakenly placed Georgia's northern line just short of the Tennessee River.

"We're going to be dealing with Georgia for a long time about water," said Tennessee Sen. Andy Berke, whose district includes Chattanooga, which the river passes through. "This is one way of telling them this is not the solution."

The resolution reads in part: "This General Assembly realizes that the Tennessee-Georgia boundary has been well established for nearly 200 years, and that there is no valid reason for Tennessee to revisit this issue."

Congress in 1796 designated that Tennessee's southern borders should stretch along the 35th parallel, but surveyors in 1818 missed that mark by 1.1 miles.

Short of a legal challenge, both states and Congress would have to agree on any border change.

Georgia Sen. David Shafer, a Duluth Republican who sponsored the measure, said Tuesday, "I remain hopeful that Tennessee will work with us to resolve this matter in a neighborly fashion."