Legislative ZIP‑Code Earmarks

A new tactic: legislatures insert ultra‑specific geographic eligibility rules (down to a single ZIP code) into budget bills to direct small pots of administrative grant money to local nonprofits or actors. These micro‑earmarks are easy to hide in cleanup bills, can override broader statutory intent, and are hard to detect without targeted investigation of addresses and eligibility rules. — If common, this practice creates a stealth pathway for political capture of regulatory grants and corrodes competitive allocation and accountability across many policy areas.