WASHINGTON - LSU's Baton Rouge campus and the St. Charles Parish community of Montz are set to get a single zip code if the U.S. Senate takes up legislation the House approved on a voice vote Wednesday.
"Here we have the greatest country in the world and we can't even figure out how to do zip codes," U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, said on the House floor during the 27-minute discussion in which both parties agreed.
"This is something the Post Office should just do on its own. The fact we've got to do legislation to fix this is frustrating," he added.
The Senate still must approve the bill before ending the legislative year on Friday, Dec. 20.
The core of LSU's Baton Rouge campus has a 70803 zip code. But over the years the state's flagship extended from the Bell Tower into neighborhoods with other zip codes. For instance, the school's Communications & University Relations department on West Lakeshore Drive is in 70808, though is officially on campus. Other adjacent facilities are in 70802 and 70820 -- all of which leads to issues in getting mail to the correct location.
The St. Charles Parish community of Montz is in zip code 70068, but so is LaPlace, five miles away in St. John the Baptist Parish.
"The confusion of missing and disjointed zip codes means that retirement checks, important documents and parish administration gets delayed, misdirected and confounded," Graves said.
St. Charles Parish President Matthew Jewell said in a statement: "The addition of a unique zip code for the Montz community will improve everything from mail delivery to emergency response services."
Rep. Lauren Boebert, the Colorado Republican who sponsored the legislation requiring the Postal Service to recognize unique zip codes in 51 communities around the country, said confusion has led to sales tax revenues being sent to the wrong jurisdiction or caused law enforcement to go to the wrong street when answering calls.
"This may seem a niche issue to some, it is extremely important to these cities and towns," Boebert said.