S4505-119

Reported

A bill to require the United States Postal Service to designate ZIP Codes for certain communities.

119th Congress Introduced May 12, 2026

Summary

What This Bill Does

This bill directs the United States Postal Service to create a single, unique ZIP Code for every community named in the legislation no later than one year after enactment. The reported text covers more than 80 places across California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge is also specifically listed.

The reported substitute adds Wisconsin communities including Caledonia, Franklin, Glendale, Greenfield, Rochester, the Village of Harrison, the Village of Mount Pleasant, and the Village of Somers. The bill mandates the designations but does not prescribe the numerical codes, fund implementation, set a conversion schedule beyond the one-year deadline, or specify how residents and businesses must update addresses.

Who Benefits and How

Residents, businesses, local governments, and civic institutions in the named communities benefit from having a ZIP Code uniquely associated with their community rather than sharing or using a code identified with another locality. Municipal administrators may gain clearer community identity in mailing addresses and databases. Local businesses may benefit from more accurate place branding and customer address recognition. Louisiana State University and the eight added Wisconsin communities receive the same unique-code mandate.

Who Bears the Burden and How

USPS address-management, information-technology, routing, operations, and customer-service teams must create and deploy the codes within one year. Postal facilities serving the listed places may need route, sorting, signage, and public-notice changes. Residents and businesses may need to update addresses in private databases, stationery, billing systems, licenses, and vendor records, although the bill does not itself impose a stated private deadline. State and local agencies, emergency systems, carriers, and address-data vendors may incur transition work when the new codes are implemented.

Key Provisions

  • Requires USPS to designate one unique ZIP Code for every community listed in the reported bill.
  • Establishes a one-year deadline for all required ZIP Code assignments.
  • Expands the covered list to include eight named Wisconsin communities in the reported substitute.
  • Provides no stated appropriation, numerical code assignments, or detailed transition rules for address users.

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

Requires the United States Postal Service, within one year, to assign one unique ZIP Code to each of more than 80 named communities in 22 states.

Key Policy Areas

Postal Service, Addressing Infrastructure, Local Government

Primary Purpose

Requires the United States Postal Service, within one year, to assign one unique ZIP Code to each of more than 80 named communities in 22 states.

Policy Domains

Postal Service Addressing Infrastructure Local Government

Unique ZIP Codes for named communities

Identified Gains
  • Residents of communities receiving unique ZIP Codes
  • Businesses in communities receiving unique ZIP Codes
  • Local governments of named communities
  • Louisiana State University
  • Eight Wisconsin communities added by the reported substitute
  • Community economic-development organizations
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: rs
Louisiana State University:
Local governments of named communities:
Community economic-development organizations:
Residents of communities receiving unique ZIP Codes:
Businesses in communities receiving unique ZIP Codes:
Eight Wisconsin communities added by the reported substitute:
Identified Costs
  • USPS address-management teams
  • USPS information-technology staff
  • Postal routing and sorting operations
  • Residents updating address records
  • Businesses updating customer and vendor records
  • State and local address-data administrators
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: rs
USPS address-management teams:
USPS information-technology staff:
Residents updating address records:
Postal routing and sorting operations:
State and local address-data administrators:
Businesses updating customer and vendor records:

Legislative Progress

Reported
Introduced Committee Passed
Aug 6, 2026

Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. …

Aug 6, 2026

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Reported by Senator …

Aug 6, 2026

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ordered to be …

May 12, 2026

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security …

May 12, 2026

Introduced in Senate

May 12, 2026

Ms. Ernst (for herself, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Barrasso, and Mr. …

May 12, 2026

Ms. Ernst (for herself, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Bennet, …

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

Government
2 mentions across 1 clause
+1 positive -1 negative

Eight Wisconsin communities added by the reported substitute, State and local address-data administrators

Positive-direction: Eight Wisconsin communities added by the reported substitute

Negative-direction: State and local address-data administrators

General Public
1 mention across 1 clause
+1 positive

Residents of communities receiving unique ZIP Codes

Business
1 mention across 1 clause
~1 mixed

Businesses in communities receiving unique ZIP Codes

Postal Service
1 mention across 1 clause
-1 negative

USPS address-management teams

1/2
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Postal Service Addressing Infrastructure Local Government
Actor Mappings
"usps"
→ United States Postal Service
"address_managers"
→ USPS address-management and routing teams
"local_governments"
→ Local governments of the named communities
"named_communities"
→ Communities expressly listed in section 1

Key Definitions

Terms defined in this bill

1 term
"covered communities" §1

The municipalities, localities, townships, villages, and Louisiana State University campus individually named in section 1.

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology