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Both bills received near-unanimous support during their public hearings, and both bills were reported favorably out of Committee more than a month ago but have not yet received a vote in either chamber.

Analysis shows how Connecticut’s Citizens’ Election Program shifted the balance of power to the people, diversified the legislature and led to better policies for everyday Americans in its first decade.

The landmark Citizens’ Election Program represents the most comprehensive and successful effort to remove special interest money from the political system undertaken by any state in U.S. history. Since the launch of the program, Connecticut has made enormous progress, transforming Connecticut from an example of rampant wrongdoing after years of scandal or “Corrupticut,” to a national model.  It is not an overstatement to say that Americans across the nation look to our state as a model for the future of democracy. 

Wealthy individuals with ties to the charter school industry used charter school Super PACs to shift control of public education into private hands, enriching themselves, attempting to weaken teacher unions, communities of color and democracy in the process. Common Cause in Connecticut and Connecticut Citizen Action Group researched who spent large sums to influence the state’s public education system with “independent expenditures” to charter school Super PACs.