Immigration and budget cuts can wait. The House has voted on new ZIP codes
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- House approved bill granting new ZIP Codes to 66 U.S. communities, including five in California
- Tehachapi leaders cited jurisdiction, voting, and service confusion from shared ZIP Codes
- Senate must pass bill before USPS can assign new ZIP Codes within 270-day window
In between the slugfests over Medi-Cal, taxes and immigration, the House of Representatives has voted to give Tehachapi a new ZIP code.
Four other California communities also got new five-digit codes, along with 61 other places around the country, thanks to a vote supported by members of both parties.
“ZIP code reform is not a partisan issue,” said Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., the bill’s chief sponsor.
She called the bill “a unifying, fundamental need for the municipalities that have been denied their own ZIP code and have dealt with public safety issues, mail delivery problems for seniors and veterans, business permitting challenges, and the loss of revenue that leads to cutting public services.”
In Tehachapi, a city of 12,400 in Kern County, southeast of Bakersfield and not far from the Mojave Desert, City Manager Greg Garrett saw practical benefits.
Currently, he said, Tehachapi shares its 93561 ZIP code with several large unincorporated communities.
“This overlap often creates confusion about which jurisdiction residents actually live in and where they are supposed to vote,” he said.
A ZIP code for Tehachapi “would help reduce some of that confusion,” he said.
Nothing is official yet; the Senate is still considering the bill.
Garrett did note that “as the municipality providing the majority of services and resources for the region, we believe Tehachapi proper should retain the 93561 ZIP code, while the surrounding unincorporated areas are assigned their own unique ZIP code.”
If the bill becomes law, the U.S. Postal Service would have 270 days to designate who gets what ZIP code in the 66 communities named in the bill.
The measure was considered July 22, the day before the House left for its summer recess. All around the chamber, talk was about whether lawmakers would take votes to seek the release of government files on sexual trafficker Jeffrey Epstein (the vote wasn’t taken) and crack down further on undocumented immigrants.
A polite bipartisan debate
Inside the chamber, the House had a spirited, polite debate on a bill that wound up getting unusually strong bipartisan support, with 17 California Democrats joining all nine state Republicans to vote yes. Twenty-two California Democrats voted no. Four didn’t vote.
Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, was among those voting no, saying any change must be cosponsored by all affected members and have strong community support.
Rep. Lateefah Simon, D-Oakland, led the opposition during the House debate.
“This bill aims to address specific community concerns about disrupted mail delivery and undeliverable mail,” she said. In many cases, she found, it did not have full community support.
Rep. Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, whose district includes Tehachapi, voted for the bill.
More California communities on the list
Other California communities affected included Industry, Canyon Lake, Hidden Hills and North Tustin. All are in Southern California and all the members of Congress representing those areas voted yes.
Rep. Young Kim, R-Anaheim, represents North Tustin and was enthusiastic about the bill.
The community’s status as unincorporated “has caused confusion for the Postal Service and for tax purposes,” she said.
Kim said North Tustin residents are “subject to the city of Santa Ana’s sales tax, despite not being represented or eligible for services or a vote in the local elections.”
Giving North Tustin a new ZIP code, she said, “will create certainty for residents who have called North Tustin home for decades and provide clarity for tax purposes to surrounding areas, and USPS.”
This story was originally published August 15, 2025 at 9:42 AM with the headline "Immigration and budget cuts can wait. The House has voted on new ZIP codes."
.jpg)