The bill assigns an official name — the “Mayor Jerry H. Hodge Post Office Building” — to the United States Postal Service facility at 505 East 9th Avenue in Amarillo, Texas.
It also includes a short legal fix saying any federal reference to that facility should be treated as a reference to the new name.
On its face the measure is narrowly symbolic: it imposes a naming designation and creates a single-line legal rule about how federal laws, maps, regulations, and documents should refer to that location. Compliance and implementation issues will be largely administrative (signage, internal records, mapping updates), but federal agencies, especially the Postal Service and records offices, will need to execute those changes once the law takes effect.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill enacts a formal name for a specific USPS facility and provides that existing and future federal references to that facility be read as references to the new name. It contains two operative subsections: the designation itself and a references clause.
Who It Affects
Primary actors affected are the United States Postal Service (for signage and internal records), federal recordkeepers and mapping authorities that maintain statutes, maps, and databases, and the local Amarillo community for whom the name confers symbolic recognition.
Why It Matters
This is a narrow but legally effective way for Congress to create an enduring federal place-name that will appear in statutes, federal maps, and government databases. For compliance officers, the bill creates a small, concrete update task list; for local stakeholders, it secures federal recognition of a local official.
More articles like this one.
A weekly email with all the latest developments on this topic.
What This Bill Actually Does
The bill is short and mechanical: Congress declares that a named postal facility shall carry the name “Mayor Jerry H. Hodge Post Office Building.” Rather than leaving the change to internal USPS practice alone, the statute adds a references clause that causes federal laws, regulations, maps, and records that refer to the facility to be treated as if they refer to the new name.
That makes the renaming legally effective across federal materials without requiring edits to every existing document.
Practically, implementation will follow ordinary administrative channels. The Postal Service will need to update building signage, property records, and its public-facing directory.
Federal agencies responsible for geographic names, mapping, and statutory codification will record the new designation in their systems; the references clause reduces the need to amend past documents by treating old references as referring to the renamed facility.The statute does not alter the Postal Service’s operations, property ownership, or funding lines in the text. It is a stand-alone naming measure: it creates a federally recognized label for the address and leaves decisions about physical plaque placement, sign funding, or ancillary commemorations to the implementing agencies or local partners.
Because it attaches the name in federal law, subsequent federal references (legal citations, maps, online databases) will adopt the name by operation of the statute rather than piecemeal administrative updates.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill names the USPS facility at 505 East 9th Avenue in Amarillo, Texas, the “Mayor Jerry H. Hodge Post Office Building.”, Subsection (b) directs that any federal law, map, regulation, document, paper, or other record referring to that facility will be deemed a reference to the new name.
The measure contains two operative subsections: a designation clause and a references clause designed to streamline federal recordkeeping.
Representative Ronny Jackson introduced the bill with multiple cosponsors and it was referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The bill is purely nominal in scope—its text changes naming and references only and does not create new programs or regulatory regimes.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Official designation of the post office building
This subsection provides the core substantive action: it declares that the USPS facility at the specified Amarillo address shall be known and designated by the commemorative name. The provision creates an explicit federal place-name that can be cited in law and official communications; it is the statutory hook that triggers all downstream updates in federal systems.
Legal effect on federal references
This short clause makes the designation operational by instructing that any reference to the facility in federal laws, maps, regulations, documents, papers, or other records shall be read as a reference to the new name. That language reduces the need for Congress or agencies to amend historical documents, because the statute operates to interpret existing references as pointing to the renamed building.
This bill is one of many.
Codify tracks hundreds of bills on Government across all five countries.
Explore Government in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Mayor Jerry H. Hodge and his family — they receive a formal, enduring federal recognition tied to a specific public building.
- City of Amarillo and local civic groups — the federal designation provides a durable honor that can enhance local identity and be used in tourism or civic materials.
- Local USPS employees and postal customers — they gain an official building name for addresses and public directions, which can simplify identification and ceremonial uses.
- Historical or commemorative organizations in Texas — they acquire a federally recognized place-name that can aid historical records and local preservation efforts.
Who Bears the Cost
- United States Postal Service — responsible for ordering and installing new signage and updating internal directories and property records; those costs fall to USPS operating funds unless otherwise supplied.
- Federal recordkeeping bodies (GPO, mapping agencies, and agency legal offices) — they must record the new designation in databases and mapping products, an administrative burden that requires staff time.
- Taxpayers (indirectly) — any physical signage, dedication events, or administrative updates paid from federal funds are ultimately borne by federal budgets, though the monetary impact is typically small.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central tension is between symbolic federal recognition of a local figure and the small but real administrative and budgetary footprint that accompanies every congressional naming: honoring local service through a statutory designation is straightforward, but doing so via law imposes a continuing recordkeeping and signage burden on federal agencies without specifying funding or implementation responsibilities.
The bill’s references clause is administratively convenient but raises implementation questions. By deeming prior and future federal references as pointing to the renamed facility, the statute avoids the need to amend each historical document; however, agencies will still need to update searchable databases and map metadata to ensure consistency for users.
That can be nontrivial where multiple federal systems (statutory codification services, mapping platforms, postal databases) maintain separate records. The statute is silent on who covers physical-sign costs or whether local partners will contribute to a dedication plaque, creating practical questions for USPS budget officers.
Another unresolved issue is how the renaming interacts with non-federal naming authorities. Local or state signage and addresses are not altered by this statute, but duplicate or similar federal place-names elsewhere can create confusion in datasets that aggregate federal and nonfederal sources.
Finally, while the bill is narrowly framed, the growing number of similar commemorative statutes can cumulatively generate administrative overhead for agencies tasked with implementing many such namings, a cost the bill does not address.
Try it yourself.
Ask a question in plain English, or pick a topic below. Results in seconds.