HARTFORD, Conn.—“Stand Up CT” was the message to elected officials as the Connecticut for All coalition gathered at the state capitol for a press conference on the eve of the opening of the legislative session.
The 60-member coalition of union, community, and faith organizations launched the “Stand Up CT” agenda in the wake of H.R. 1, President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” The urgent legislation was shaped to make up the gap being created by cuts to health care, nutrition, public education, and housing, and to protect the freedoms of multi-racial working-class and immigrant residents under attack.
“We are here to demand that Governor Lamont and every elected state legislator STAND-UP, meet the moment, and protect the residents and families of Connecticut,” said Seth Freeman, president of The 4 C’s union of community college teachers. “We are here to demand that elected leaders fight for working-class families and fight against the Trump billionaire agenda.”
The “Stand Up CT” agenda would require the small number of ultra-wealthy residents and corporations, who have received more than $1 trillion in tax breaks through H.R. 1, to pay a comparable share of income taxes as that paid by the vast majority of Connecticut families.
The agenda also includes a set of policies that will protect families and neighbors from what many see as the hate, bigotry, and terror being unleashed by the federal government.
“The choice really is simple,” said Connecticut for All Director Norma Martinez HoSang. “We can either meet the needs of working Connecticut families, or we can continue to leave money on the table by refusing to fix the fiscal controls and make the ultra-wealthy and corporations pay their fair share.”
She further explained, “The ‘Stand Up CT’ agenda would re-balance the state’s upside-down tax system, protect against Trump cuts and policies, and allow the legislature to mitigate harms to the publicly-funded safety net, providing stability for working families. The package of bills will raise hundreds of millions of dollars annually.”
Speakers shared stories of how they are being impacted, including community college teachers in SEIU 4Cs, tenants in the CT Tenants Union, immigrant students in CT Students for a Dream, healthcare workers in SEIU 1199, public school teachers in AFT Connecticut, women’s equality activists in She Leads Justice, religious leaders from the Greater Hartford Interfaith Action Alliance, and a small business owner, alongside State Rep. Jason Doucette from the Tax Equity Caucus of 52 legislators, and State Senator Gary Winfield, chair of the Judiciary Committee.
Velentina Diaz spoke on behalf of Connecticut Students for a Dream, an organization of immigrant youth. “Families are afraid of being separated. Young people are questioning whether to be in school or build a future here. Parents are afraid of one traffic stop or one knock at the door that could change everything,” she said.
“I am a working-class student,” said Diaz. “I go to school full-time and work two jobs to be able to eat. Like many students, I’m not choosing between comfort and success; I am choosing between rent, food, and staying enrolled.”
“Passing the Stand Up CT legislative agenda means finally prioritizing the hardworking people of Connecticut who keep this state running—the health care workers who kept us safe throughout the pandemic, the teachers who pay for school supplies out of their own pockets, the bus drivers who take us where we need to go, the youth who need a chance for a better future they can afford—over a handful of wealthy and well-connected families,” concluded Martinez-HoSang.
In December, Connecticut Voices for Children issued a report, “The Case and Policy Options for Connecticut to Offset New Federal Cuts to Public Benefits,” at a crowded Capitol gathering of advocates and organizers.
The report examines how the state’s fiscal controls and tax structure are hurting working-class families by limiting sustained, meaningful investments in human needs. The report emphasizes how Connecticut can move from temporary fixes to long-term policy choices that make affordability real and fully fund communities being devastated by the MAGA “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” enacted last July.
This Act provides tax cuts that heavily benefit high-income households. Those with incomes above $500,000 a year are estimated to receive 33% of the total tax cut, amounting to $1.5 trillion over the next decade.
The law pays for the tax cuts for high-income households by making about $1.5 trillion in cuts to public benefits, reducing essential support for low- and middle-income households. This includes nearly $1.1 trillion in cuts to health care benefits, including Medicaid; allowing a more than $300 billion expansion of the Premium Tax Credit for health insurance to expire; and cutting food assistance by about $190 billion.
At least 150,000 people in Connecticut are expected to lose health insurance, and 58,000 households are expected to have food assistance cut. At the same time, the top 10% of households are estimated to gain more than $9,200 each.
The report presented five policy proposals that would make it possible to address these extreme and devastating inequities, including raising tax rates on high-income households (single tax filers above $500,000, and married tax filers above $1 million) or high-value estates (worth more than $15 million).
Together, the policy proposals would raise close to $500 million a year, providing resources for Connecticut to close the gap left by the cruel federal cuts to human needs.
Advocates are demanding that in these dire circumstances, the Legislature and Governor stand up for the people of Connecticut in this session and make sure that basic needs are funded to address health care, housing, hunger, and growing poverty.
“Passing the Stand Up CT legislative agenda means finally prioritizing the hardworking people of Connecticut who keep this state running—the health care workers who kept us safe throughout the pandemic, the teachers who pay for school supplies out of their own pockets, the bus drivers who take us where we need to go, the youth who need a chance for a better future they can afford—over a handful of wealthy and well-connected families,” declared Martinez-HoSang at the campaign launch.
The Connecticut for All coalition is part of a network of national organizations developing policies for tax justice, including the State Revenue Alliance, Fair Share America, and Bargaining for the Common Good.
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