“JOB-KILLER” BILLS IN TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND LEAVE-POLICY AGENDAS BEFORE AND AFTER THE GREAT RECESSION*

Abstract

How do economic conditions influence social movements' capacity to set legislative agendas? This research examines multiple efforts to expand family, medical, and sick leave policies in California across almost two decades spanning the Great Recession. Longitudinal analysis in a state with political conditions favorable to leave policy agendas permits close consideration of how varying economic conditions shape social movement influence in the policy process. Drawing from various qualitative sources, this research finds that, after the recession, leave bills were more often held in appropriations committees for their estimated costs to the state and anticipated pressures on funding sources. Weak economic conditions also shifted leave advocates' priorities away from leave policy issues toward maintaining public employment and services. The article advances social movement research by showing the mechanisms by which state fiscal capacity shapes social movement strategies and interacts with political conditions at the early, agenda-setting stages of the legislative process.