Objective. As the price of energy swells, renewable energy sources will serve as important alternatives to fossil fuels. Identifying what influences a state to adopt a policy that promotes the construction of renewable energy sources is an important step toward understanding the nature of our future energy supplies. Methods. Using an event-history analysis, we examine three competing diffusion explanations on the likelihood of a state adopting net metering. Results. We find that regional policy diffusion influences the likelihood of a state to adopt a net metering policy. Conclusions. The results suggest that states are learning from one another and that the EPA's regional offices help facilitate this diffusion.The process through which policies are replicated and spread across the country is a vital part of the policy process. Scholars have devoted a great deal of attention in recent years to state policy adoption and diffusion (Berry and Berry, 2007). However, this scholarship has overlooked the diffusion of renewable resource policies. As global warming becomes a greater public concern, and the cost of fossil fuels continues to climb, policies that encourage renewable energy will become increasingly important. Given a lack of federal direction regarding renewable energy policy, the states have been forced into taking a more proactive role in best using their natural energy resources (Brown, Brutoco, and Cusumano, 2007).One way states have addressed clean energy production is through creating an incentive structure to foster the still fledgling, yet potentially potent, renewable energy industry. The traditional way to do this has been to offer financial incentives for individuals, companies, or schools to construct renewable energy production sources such as photovoltaic solar arrays or wind turbine units. Examples of these incentives include research and development grants, tax credits, and, most basically, the public funding of various

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many African Americans held fairly negative attitudes about effective and speedy government response to the storm. We employ framing theory to examine the role of race in shaping attitudes following Katrina. We hypothesize that a dominant media frame of Black storm victims led African Americans to develop a stronger empathy with storm victims, and thus, more negative views about government response. We test this hypothesis using a unique national poll of adults conducted in September 2005 that over sampled African Americans. Our results support the hypothesis that race strongly shaped attitudes following the storm.