Every Voice - Connecticut
EST 2019
Every Voice Connecticut was founded in November 2019 and from the beginning, the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence was an avid and involved partner in collaborating with Every Voice Connecticut. Together we envisioned and wrote An Act concerning sexual misconduct on college campuses and garnered the bill’s first legislative champions. Our bill was first filed in January 2020 as Senate Bill 19, with the state’s student coalition growing ever since.
Unfortunately, the bill did not make it through the special session in the summer of 2020 when bills concerning COVID were prioritized. Our team rallied to refile the bill in 2021 and fearlessly advocated for its unanimous passage through both chambers. The Every Voice CT Bill was signed into law at the end of June and went into effect on July 1st, 2021.
On July 1st, Public Act 21-81 went into effect as state law in Connecticut.
What does the Connecticut Every Voice Law do?
The CT Every Voice Bill (Act 21-81) enacts comprehensive measures to combat sexual violence and support survivors studying at all Institutions of Higher Education in Connecticut. Specifically, the legislation will ensure:
Anti-retaliation protections for reporting parties from being punished for breaking school code of conduct at the time of an assault
Transparent data on sexual violence, gathered anonymously and published publicly
The Every Voice Bill was written by students, survivors, and young alumni in Connecticut through collaboration with the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee.
“I founded Every Voice CT on the heels of my own experiences with sexual violence and ensuing institutional inaction. I believe grassroots, experienced-based, and student-led policy is indispensable to the expansion of supportive measures and innovative ways to address persisting inequalities. Campus sexual violence is no exception. More than that, achieving this state and systemic change is especially fulfilling and healing in the company of fellow peers and advocates. I am grateful for the ways I have been able to give back through Every Voice CT and for all that I have been given in the process.”
Alison, Connecticut State Director
