Hughes Joins Legislators, Advocates In Support Of 2025 Equity Agenda

**News Release Submitted by Connecticut House Democrats**

Jan. 14, 2025

State Representative Anne Hughes (D-Redding) joined Rep. Gillian Gilchrest (D-West Hartford), Sen. Gary Winfield (D-) and the Connecticut For All Coalition at a press conference Tuesday morning at the Legislative Office Building in support of the 2025 Equity Agenda.

The agenda, which is a roadmap for Connecticut to lift all its community members, includes introducing fair tax structures calling for the state's wealthiest residents to contribute their fair share; and the expansion of support for working families through targeted investments in education, affordable housing, and healthcare.

“Our job in this moment is simple: Protect Our People, Fund Our Services!” Rep. Hughes said.

Stories abound that in Connecticut, one of the wealthiest states in the U.S., is also one of the least equitable and most unaffordable for the middle class and lower wage workers. The state's education system greatly underfunds the areas that need it most, and the time has come for a change, according to Gilchrest. She added that state policy created Connecticut's working poor.

“Our constituents elected us this past November to be their voice at the Capitol as we fight for the critical investments our communities need, investments that have been drastically underfunded for too long,” Rep. Gilchrest said. “The legislature has the power - and numbers - to make bold changes to our fiscal policies and tax system so that they work for all of Connecticut and move our economy forward in a positive growth direction.”

People who used to work two jobs to make ends meet are now finding themselves having to work three, and even four jobs to meet the ever-escalating costs of life's necessities: food, shelter, and healthcare. Advocates said further investments must be made to public services to reduce inequality, as well as a lowering of the fiscal guardrails in the state – established in 2017 and prevent even a dime of new spending from being included in the budget.

“Year after year we have returned to this building to do the work of the people. We return inside of a rhetorical milieu of equity,” Sen. Winfield said. “Because we continue to fail to make the necessary investments in the very programs that hit the root causes of inequity- housing, education, healthcare, public services those words serve only as platitudes with little if any meaning in the lives of the many who need them to be our call to action. We cannot continue to allow our upside-down tax structure and irresponsible fiscal policies dictate our investment decisions and the chance at a better Connecticut.”