Take Action

In spite of the pandemic, CCAG, in coalition with our state and national partners and Connecticut citizens, continues to take action on the planned issue agenda. Please join our email list and visit this page often for current actions and updates!

CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS

Check Your voting status

CLICK HERE FOR THE 2022 LEGISLATIVE WRAP UP

Rally For Climate: Travelers Company Annual Shareholder Meeting 5/25

Travelers Insurance Company is one of the top 3 oil and gas insurers in the world and has over 3.5 billion invested in fossil fuel companies.

Join CCAG, Sierra Club CT and the Insure Our Future CT coalition on Wednesday, May 25th at 8:30AM outside the Marriott Hotel in downtown Hartford where Travelers will be holding its annual shareholder meeting.

We will be protesting outside to demand the Travelers company end investments in and underwriting of fossil fuel companies that are ensuring climate destruction.

Learn more about Travelers Current policies here

Husky 4 Immigrants Lobby Days

Children should not lose health care when they turn 9!

Join us at the Capitol this week to show Governor Lamont and lawmakers that we must expand coverage to children who are not documented when they turn 9.

Last year, we prevailed and extended coverage to children who are not documented aged 8 and under. This goes into effect in January of 2023.

It is good - but not enough.

Health care is a human right.

We have the money - and we can't afford NOT to cover everyone.

If you can't make it to the Capitol, call your representatives today!

Advocate for a strong indoor air quality bill!

Join CEA and allies to demand action on S.B. 423, An Act Improving Indoor Air Quality in Public School Classrooms.

This would establish school temperature and humidity limits and provide bond funding for remediation and installation of modern HVAC systems.

Call your Senator today and ask this be brought to the floor.

Earth Day Climate Strike

As the climate crisis accelerates we need to see action at every level of government that is at the scale of the crisis we face, and centers around our state’s most vulnerable communities.

Join Sunrise CT and partner organizations on April 22nd on the north steps of the capitol as we: Demand that Governor Lamont direct the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to immediately stop permitting all new fossil fuel power plants. Support the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation as they raise the following climate change concerns:

Shifts in suitable habitat for culturally significant species due to climate change;
Climate change effects on culturally relevant species more broadly;
Climate change effects on traditional food sources (Ex. through water chemistry and temperature changes);
Climate change effects on traditional reliance and understanding from changing phenology;
Climate change effects of higher temperatures on the health of the community, especially for members of the community with greater vulnerability;
And mental health effects from ecological and cultural changes associated with climate change.

Put Working Families First

Do you want tax relief for low- and middle-income families?

Do want the state to make significant investments in childcare and children’s mental health services?

If the answer is yes, please send an e-mail to Governor Lamont right now, and tell him to include the work of the Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee in the final budget.

The General Assembly’s Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee just passed a revenue package that incorporates many of Recovery For All’s priorities, including:

A $300 tax credit for each child (up to $900) for families earning up to $200,000 per year;

A permanent 11% increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income families with children, putting an additional $300 in their pockets to make ends meet;

Historic investments to create 10,000 new childcare slots and increase the wages of childcare workers;

and Funding for children’s mental health services to help them cope with the isolation and traumas caused by the pandemic.

The Committee also passed critical transparency measures to ensure the Department of Revenue Services provides comprehensive, uniform data to guide tax policy decisions and report how much all categories of taxpayers, including the ultra-wealthy and mega-profitable corporations, pay.

Email Governor Lamont now and tell him to include the Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee’s revenue package – the one that delivers relief to working families, funds services that build equity and increases taxpayer transparency – in the final budget. Tell him Connecticut should be a place where everyone can thrive, regardless of their job, gender, race or zip code.

Join Recovery for All April 18, at noon on the North steps of the state Capitol for the press conference on Tax Day – part of a broader regional and national day of action to demand that the ultra-wealthy and big corporations contribute more of what they owe to fund investment in working families.

SPONSORED BY RECOVERY FOR ALL

Additionally – Recovery for All had a press conference last week to release two new reports exposing the Yankee Institute as a right-wing think tank which has exerted a destructive influence over public policy here in Connecticut for far too long. Here's the first report and here's the second report. CCAG pointed out that the Yankee Institute shares donors and ties with Koch Industries, which is still doing business in Russia despite its invasion of Ukraine. The reports were covered in CTNewsJunkie and CTInsider (which Hearst Media reprinted in local newspapers statewide). Separately, RFA is also mentioned in this Courant article about tax incidence analysis reports.

Education Equity & The American Rescue Plan

What does Education Equity look like for you, your family and your community?

With over $1.1 billion being sent to Connecticut schools from the federal government, our communities have an unprecedented opportunity to build back our schools better than ever!

The state of Connecticut is required to provide "meaningful consultation" with school communities, stakeholders and the public." Will you help us with this process?

We are interested in hearing how you would like these resources to be used in your community. Please visit https://bit.ly/ccagEEsurvey to take the survey.

March for Our Classrooms

Join teachers, students and community members Wednesday, March 30, starting at 4 pm!

This action will advocate for comprehensive investment in the entire public education system - part of a nationwide movement for this critical demand.

Free parking will be available at High School in the Community (HSC), located at 175 Water Street, one-third of a mile from the march start location.

Click here to register to participate and receive updates.

Sponsored by Recovery for All.

CT Climate Justice March Feb 8, 2022

Thank you to everyone who participated in the CT Climate Justice March on February 8th

Climate disruption is disproportionately harming the most vulnerable communities and stealing the future from our youth.

Yet, the Connecticut government and corporations are failing us on climate action. Join us as we plan to gather for a March in Hartford to amplify the voices of the most vulnerable communities and urge Connecticut to Lead on Climate.

The March was led by drummers with stops at Eversource (CT's largest utility), Travelers (the worst insurer for climate in the world), DEEP, and finishing at the State Capitol where the Governor and legislators kicked off the 2022 legislative session.

Our legislative demands can be found here.

Sponsors: Acadia Center, Blue Earth Compost, Collaborative Center for Justice, Congress of Community Colleges (4Cs), Connecticut Chapter Sierra, Club, Connecticut Citizen Action Group, Connecticut Clean Water Action , Connecticut Climate Crisis Mobilization (C3M), CT Coalition for Environmental & Economic Justice, CSEA SEIU Lcl 2001, Democracy4All, Drinking Liberally Meriden, Eastern Connecticut Green Action, Efficiency for All, Indivisible West Hartford, First Church in Windsor UCC, National Association of Social Workers, No More Dirty Power in Killingly, Recovery4All Coalition, Save the Sound, Sunrise Movement Connecticut, UAW Region9A, Unitarian Universalist Society East Sustainable Living Committee, Uconn Praxis, 350 CT

Connecticut's Five Families

Health insurance companies are making billions by denying you care.

Five of them sent a letter to Governor Lamont in April, threatening to move jobs out of Connecticut if we passed a Public Option. It worked, and the Public Option was scrapped in the final days of the 2021 session.

CCAG is investigating, and bringing you information you need about the greed and profiteering of these companies.

Our third report, Pandemic Profiteering: Making a Killing on COVID, finds that what these companies reported in profits, and spent on stock buybacks, could have funded the entire state of Connecticut for two years.

Our first report, on CEO compensation, showed that those five companies paid their CEOs $137.7 million in the last year. Our second, Games Insurers Play: How Low Will They Go?, explores the tactics and money spent in the 2021 legislative session. It shows that the industry, these Five Families, and dark money groups who don't disclose their donors spent at least $1.3 million lobbying in just six months.

By adding thousands of small businesses, nonprofits and individuals to the state's Partnership Plan, a Public Option would have offered affordable, quality coverage to tens of thousands of people. But it would have impeded the skyrocketing profits of the insurance industry. It's time our lawmakers listened to the people of Connecticut, rather than millionaire insurance executives.

Make sure to like, follow and share our new Five Families Facebook page, and click here to take action and sign up for updates.

Related News: No way to run a healthcare system. CT Viewpoints by Liz Dupont-Diehl- October 25, 2021

Renew New England Alliance

Friends, as you may know, we are proud members of the Renew New England Alliance, a coalition of grassroots organizers, racial justice organizations, labor unions, and frontline communities dedicated to winning a racial, economic, and climate justice across New England.

We are so glad to have you in this work with us. These are dark times, but there’s hope up ahead. Now, let's make sure this is the year we truly win power for our communities.

Insure Our Future

Connecticut is a leader in climate action, yet our insurance industry is failing to take the action necessary to avoid climate catastrophe. Instead, the top insurers in our state are investing billions in fossil fuels, and insuring an untold number of fossil fuel projects.

Join the CT Insure Our Future campaign to help us hold our insurance companies accountable for their role in climate change and move them toward a more sustainable future for us all.

Stop Insuring Fossil Fuels

Please share the video far and wide to let insurance companies in CT know we are just getting started.

Retweet the video here
Share the video on Facebook here

As a state-wide organization, CCAG and our members have an unique opportunity to move major U.S. insurers out of fossil fuels, and into a sustainable future.

Local climate activists have stepped up over this past year to call these destructive practices out. View the video to see what together, we've accomplished recently.

Together we have made it very clear to companies Travelers Insurance, The Hartford, and WR Berkley we are out of time.

Want to take action with the campaign in the future?
Join the CT IOF email list to be kept up to date on these and other issues and actions.

These companies must stop insuring fossil fuels in order to #InsureOurFuture. Let's make sure they know we are ready to hold them accountable.

CCAG's Fairfield County Organizing Collaborative is on the Move

Taking Action on Housing, Health Care & Climate Change.

CCAG members, friends and neighbors are joining together to educate, engage and take action on the fight for quality, affordable health care - pushing CT to take bold, aggressive action to fight our climate emergency - and working with Fairfield County allies to demand affordable accessible housing for ALL people in this state.

Interested in finding out more? Contact Bill Collins at 9collins@optonline.net or 203.846.1109

Connect the Dollars Project (CDP)

CONNECT THE DOLLARS PROJECT (CDP) is a collaboration of Common Cause in CT and CT Citizen Action Group to expose attempts to buy our state.

Connecticut super PACs, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to support or oppose electoral candidates, are being used as a tool for a handful of wealthy individuals, lobbying organizations, and businesses to buy our elections to serve their interests. A massive influx of millions of dollars in super PAC donations thus far in 2018 — more than half of it from out-of-state interests — drowns out the voices of Connecticut citizens and candidates, undermines the goals of Connecticut’s strong campaign finance laws, and damages public confidence in the integrity of our election system.

Who is Buying Our Elections? A Pre-Election Guide to Connecticut Super PACS
Download the guide

Connecticut Republicans Maintain Huge Advantage in Super PAC Money: party_pac_report_rev._10-31-18.pdf
Download File

Read the Executive Summary here.

Like & Share the CDP Faceboook page to follow the money and connect the dollars!

ARCHIVES 2021

2021 Connecticut Legislative Session

Thank you for taking part in the passage of:

Senate Bill 356, a Housing Retrofit bill that will help decarbonize the housing sector with a focus on vulnerable communities.
Senate Bill 999 is a bill for Just Transition to Climate-Protective Energy Production and Community Investment, that would ensure a just, equitable transition to a green economy.

SB 837 Passed. PFAS Chemicals in firefighting foam and food packaging. PFAS chemicals, otherwise known as “forever chemicals”, are linked to a number of severe diseases and never break down in the environment, creating long-lasting harm to people and the planet. This bill restricts PFAS chemicals in food packaging and in firefighting foam, and requires the state to implement a take-back program of old foam, and to utilize a fluorine free foam in the future unless required by federal law.

Public pressure made a big difference,thanks to you.

The 2021 Connecticut legislative session ended on June 9th!

While many states are moving backwards on voting rights, Connecticut can move our state forward by expanding voting rights.

Senate Bill 5 will help make elections in our state more accessible and representative, expand Automatic Voter Registration (AVR), make the 2020 absentee ballot drop boxes permanent, and restore voting rights to citizens on parole, re-enfranchising thousands of our community members. Read more here.

Below are press links covering the Senate vote:

2021 Voting Rights Letter to Legislators signed by Connecticut Citizen Action Group and over 80 other orgs. across CT.
Senators Work Together To Pass Voter Registration Measures | CTNewsJunkie
CT Senate passes CT voting bill that would expand voting access to residents

2021 EVENTS ACTION HIGHLIGHTS

2021 Cycle4CT Bicycle Ride to Fight Climate Change

Thank you to everyone who participated in and supported the 2021 Cycle4CT ride to fight climate change!

Enjoy the photos sent in from challengers who participated in Connecticut and from as far away as Maine & Omaha.

Join our email list and/or watch this page for exciting updates about Cycle4CT 2022! together we can save our planet one revolution at a time!

Fairfield County Climate Strike Action

Join us for The Fairfield County Climate Strike Action at Bridgeport Harbor Station!

The current Climate Emergency requires us to take bold, aggressive, and immediate action. There is no excuse to keep operating CT's filthiest coal burning generator. We will urge the Lamont administration to take immediate action. Activists will also challenge the state's claim that natural gas is an option for our energy future.

When: Thursday, September 26th. Gathering at 4 PM

Where: 1 Kiefer St, Bridgeport CT
Find & share this event on FB

Find other events happening around the state as a part of the Global Climate Strike week of action here

Important Climate Talks

The most important climate talks since the Paris Agreement took place in Glasgow, Scotland on November 1st, 2021. The outcomes of these negotiations — including public and private sector commitments — will go a long way to determining our ability to combat the climate crisis. That’s why we’re launching a new campaign: Deadline Glasgow - Defund Climate Chaos.

Sign the petition and join the campaign: In order to take climate change seriously, we cannot continue to accept empty promises. Stop funding climate change NOW!

We are in Code Red for Humanity...

It is time to take action!

Our planet is sending urgent warnings: record breaking temperatures, more extreme storms, historic droughts, flooding and sea level rise. If we fail to act, things will get worse.

Unfortunately, Connecticut is falling short on climate. Governor Lamont is not acting fast enough or boldly enough to respond to the accelerating climate crisis already impacting Connecticut families, businesses and communities.

We do have solutions. Send your message to Gov. Lamont today! Connecticut must lead the nation on climate justice!

Opinion: Climate emergency requires more from Lamont.

12th Annual #CCAGBBQ

Thank you to everyone who helped to make the 12th Annual #CCAGBBQ a great success! 

Hosts:
Former Senator Terry Gerratana & Frank Gerratana MD

Host Committee Members:
Shirley Black, Anne Hulick- CT Director CT Clean Water Action, Rhona Cohen, Steve Derby, Chris Donovan, Liz Fitzsimmons, Merrill Gay, Rosemary Klotz, Elaine Lang, Rep. Rick Lopes, Mary Ann Mahony- Nat'l Council AAUP, David McCluskey, John McNamara, David Moore, John Murphy, Tim O'Brien, David Pudlin, Jacob Pudlin, Pat Rehmer, Terri Reid, Rep. Bobby Sanchez, Ned Statchen, Rep. Peter Tercyak, John Valengavich, Rep. Edwin Vargas, Sylvia Vargas, Gretchen Vivier.

CLICK HERE TO CONTRIBUTE