The Auburn University College Republicans held a meeting Tuesday March 5, where state Sen. Tom Whatley and Adam Thompson, deputy chief of staff to the Secretary of State in Montgomery, came to speak.
"We're in legislature right now. We're on our tenth legislative day," Whatley said. "So we're 1/3 of the way through the session."
Whatley said in his opinion, the biggest thing they did last week was the AirBus legislation.
"We got that passed and that was keeping our contractual obligations to AirBus, and what we did there is made it so they're going to be in Alabama employing thousands of people," Whatley said.
He also discussed the Education and Accountability Act.
This will allow tax credits for people who are in failing school systems.
"You can take a tax credit up to 80 percent of what is allotted per student," Whatley said. "You can take that and go to a performing school so you don't have to continue the cycle of staying in a non performing school."
One school system will gain money and the other school system, that has students leaving, will have the incentive to improve the educational quality they are providing so they don't go out of business, Whatley said.
"We're going to give the opportunity for parents to take the dollars that they're paying and instead of paying them to a non-performing school, take it to a school that's going to be performing for the children," Whatley said.
Whatley said they want to focus on poultry science technology research at Auburn University.
The energy and consumption research that Auburn University has done has created light bulbs that are saving approximately $7,000 per year, per chicken house, Whatley said.
"This is a tremendous asset to us because that means that's more money in the farmers pocket," Whatley said. "He can hire more people, he can build more chicken houses; he or she reinvested in the economy."
Whatley said they are also going to start a technology research incubator and they will put $1 million in the budget this year to start it.
Approximately $1 million will go to cancer research at Auburn's Veterinarian School, Whatley said.
Danielle Wall, chairwoman of the Auburn University College Republicans, helps organize the meetings and getting the speakers to come.
Wall said Whatley is a long time friend of hers.
"As we've grown, we've met him around Auburn," Wall said. "He represents this area so having him come talk to the students (was) pretty cool."
Adam Thompson also spoke at the meeting.
Thompson has worked for the State Auditor and is now running for State Auditor himself.
"(The) State Auditor audits property inventory and all assets the state owns," Thompson said. "The State Auditor has to see every single piece of property, every two years. It's a pretty massive undertaking when you think that there are over 140 state government departments and over 36,000 state employees."
The auditor's office operates with fewer than 10 people on a budget of less than $1 million, Thompson said.
They oversee $2 billion worth of assets.
Thompson thinks there are three things that should be at the core of government in general.
These three things that should be at the core of government are accountability, efficiency and transparency.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
