| This case study investigates the social and political factors influencing House Bill 1183, a bill introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly in April 2005 to extend resident-tuition rates to undocumented students seeking postsecondary education. The data indicates that House Bill 1183's defeat was due to a combination of factors. These factors included social and economic concerns, changing demographics of the state, the time and context the bill was introduced, the media, specifically conservative talk radio, and the public's response. A combination of the other factors contributed and significantly influenced the context of the public's response, which undoubtedly led to the defeat of the bill. This study is grounded in the advocacy coalition framework by Jenkins-Smith and Sabatier (1993), which suggests policymaking is a competitive process where advocacy coalitions compete to achieve specific policy objectives. Advocacy coalitions played an important role in this process, as the supporting organizations were key in the conceptual development of the bill, and the opposing coalition was actively involved in calling their constituents to action. However, the data does not indicate the presence of highly structured coalitions as the framework might suggest. The bill's defeat was not solely a result of the opposition's efforts or any lack of planning or strategy on the part of supporters. The data suggest the other factors primarily contributed to the bill's defeat. |
