2023 Legislative Session

Dear Voices community,

It’s nearly the end of the legislative session and these next few days and weeks are critical to pass policies that will advance economic justice for children and families.

Since the session began in January we’ve been submitting research-backed testimony on policies that we know will support family economic security, and now we need your help to push these policies over the finish line!

Please take a moment to contact your legislator and let them know what’s important to you and why.

Our policy priorities are outlined below.

Thank you for your helping make Connecticut a thriving and equitable state where all children achieve their full potential!

In partnership,

Connecticut Voices for Children

All of the issues we’re advocating for work together to create a more just and equitable Connecticut. Its hard to pick and choose among priorities, but these are our top five.  

• Income Equity: We’re advocating for a state-level Child Tax Credit (read our op-ed on why this is important; our testimony is here) to be included in the final budget. This can be funded through a repeal for the film tax credits. At minimum, we’re hoping that HB 6929, a bill that would increase the film tax credits, is voted down. Read our testimony about the film tax credits.
• Wealth Equity: Our advocacy for CT Baby Bonds paid off! Baby Bonds is an innovative policy that invests in children at birth in an effort to combat systemic poverty and generate economic opportunity.
• Eviction Mitigation:We support B. 6781, S.B. 4 and the many important reforms and investments it would make in housing affordability and renter protections in our state. Read our testimony here.
• Child Welfare: We support B. 6563 because it would raise the age at which a young person with a history of involvement in Connecticut’s child welfare system can receive funding to support participation in a higher education, vocational, or employment training program from 23 to 28. Read our testimony to learn more.
• Early Care: We believe that early care needs to be funded like the essential infrastructure it is, which requires establishing an Early Childhood Education Trust fund so that the sector has a dedicated revenue stream like other infrastructure issues. Additionally, the availability of home-based child care is an important step to address the lack of affordable child care options across our state, and that’s why we’re in favor of B. 6590.  Read our testimony here.

A Fairer Tax System:

• Expanding the state Earned Income Tax Credit. Read our testimony to learn why this is important.
• Increasing Special Education Funding to help reduce local property taxes. Read our testimony in support of S.B. 1219 here and read our research on how fully funding the Excess Cost Grant helps students, families and towns.
• Expanding the Tax Incidence report to ensure an equitable data collection. Read our research on what the state can do around a tax incidence study here and here.

Affordable Housing:

• We’re working with our partners through the CT Coalition to End Homelessness to pass B. 6554 , which would make critical investments in homeless systems. Here’s our testimony.
• We’re supporting Desegregate CT in their efforts to pass Transit Oriented Development through B. 6890(here’s our testimony)and our partners at Growing Together CT and Open Communities Alliance are working to create a needs assessment and Fair Share Plans for municipalities to increase affordable housing through H.B. 6633 (here’s our testimony).

Safe and Healthy Communities For All:

• We’re working with partners at the Yale Law School’s Criminal Justice Clinic and the CT Justice Alliance on B. 952and H.B. 6888. Our testimony is hereand here.
• We’re working with partners at the Black and Brown Student Union and the CT Justice Alliance on the B. 1095, which would require the transparency of MOUs between police departments and school districts. Read our testimony here.

Strong and Diverse Workforce:

• We’re supporting advocacy efforts of the Early Childhood Alliance and Childcare for Connecticut’s Future to get more early care funding. We were encouraged to see that the Office of Early Childhood was one of the consistent recipients of more funding in the Governor’s budget and the budget that passed out of the Appropriations committee; however, more is needed to pull this sector out of crisis. Read our testimony on B. 6686 and H.B. 6759.
• Our partners at Recovery For All are working on legislation to support low-income and hourly workers through B. 6859, to require predictable scheduling, H.B. 1177, to get rid of the subminimum wage, and H.B. 1178, to expand paid sick day leave. Our testimony is here.

Your voice is important to support CT children and families! All of these policies work together to help families thrive, stay together and stay healthy through tough times. Find your legislator and call or email to let them know what’s important to you and why.