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2025 Legislative Session in Review

July 10, 2025

Each year, CSU-AAUP members, often joined by students, head to the Capitol and the Legislative Office Building to talk with legislators, testify at hearings and advocate for our key issues.

The CSU-AAUP Legislative Committee worked hard to engage more members and students from all four CSU campuses in our fight this spring. We focused on three distinct areas of work this year:

  1. Increased CSCU System funding
  2. Extending the PACT/Mary Ann Handley Program into the CSUs
  3. Advocating for Connecticut for All’s Equity Agenda

Central to all that work was a push to adjust the "fiscal guardrails," a set of rules that prohibited the use of state surpluses to address Connecticut’s unmet need.

Our union had numerous meetings with the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, the leadership of the Democratic caucuses within the Senate and the House, and the chairs of all the key legislative committees. CSU-AAUP members met with more legislators (both Democrats and Republicans) than ever before in our union's history. Our organization is building real and lasting relationships with a large number of legislators.

CSU-AAUP members advocated and lobbied for our membership, our students, and our institutions. And our inside game was matched by our presence at demonstrations, protests, press conferences, events, and picket lines across the state.

Against a backdrop of federal threats, CSU-AAUP’s legislative record saw some wins and losses. Although our system funding total was disappointing (largely due to system mismanagement and the system’s perverse accumulation of reserves), we won a big victory with the passage of PACT/Mary Ann Handley Award into the CSUs. Our work on the Equity Agenda also helped win several important victories, but there is more work to do on other issues.

CSU-AAUP members testified on a number of Equity Agenda issues. Below is a sample of some of members' work in front of legislative committees.

Appropriations Committee

Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee

Human Services Committee

Judiciary Committee

Housing Committee

Education Committee

Select Committee on Special Education

Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee