The ACLU of Connecticut takes an active role in every session of the state legislature to support bills that advance civil liberties and oppose those that do not. We have testified before the legislature hundreds of times and have taken leading roles in the struggles to repeal the death penalty, fight racial profiling, challenge police practices, advocate for decarceation and an end to discrimination against people living with a criminal record, protect and expand LGBT rights, and prevent encroachment on the right to free speech.
In 2021, the Connecticut General Assembly's legislative session is virtual, making it more important than ever for people to take action with us online. Join one of our action teams to get involved. Sign up for our action alerts, to make sure you get emails around when it's time to act on important legislation. Use our lookup tool to find your legislators' social media handles to tell them to support civil rights and liberties legislation.
In the case of unsuccessful or pending eviction suits, we believe that the public interest is, generally, not important enough to require widespread dissemination of this information to the tenant’s detriment.
Marginalized people with lived experience are experts in both the effects of policies and the solutions to harmful policies. They belong in all places where decisions are being made that will affect their communities.
Because homelessness and housing insecurity are linked to higher recidivism rates,8 public safety dictates that we should try to encourage stable housing for people with criminal records, rather than discourage it by codifying permissible discrimination.
The legislature should embrace this chance to decrease congestion at the polls on Election Day and improve the chances of vulnerable people to cast their ballots.
No one should have to choose between protecting their health and exercising their fundamental right to vote, and Senate Bill 901 and House Bill 6464 help ensure that Connecticut voters will not have to.
We look forward to supporting efforts by this Committee to curtail street racing that do not involve harsher criminal penalties.