Sen. Tom Whatley begins each day bright and early at 4:30 a.m. For the next three hours, he focuses on personal business. At 7:30 a.m., he begins meeting with constituents from District 27, which includes Russell, Lee and Tallapoosa Counties.
Serving as a state senator means that no day is exactly like the next, Whatley said. Sometimes, he’ll end the day in an entirely different location from where he started it.
“I can be at a meeting in Lee County dealing with healthcare at East Alabama Medical Center,” Whatley said. “I could be in Tallapoosa County dealing with an issue on education, or I could be in Russell County talking to somebody about the impact of the increase of soldiers at Fort Benning.”
When the Alabama state legislature is in session, his day begins just as early and can be just as unpredictable.
Whatley arrives at his office at 6:30 a.m., where he will have about an hour and a half to plan the day and examine what needs to get done regarding bills or the budget.
“Around 7:45 to 8 a.m., people start pouring in from all around the district and the state to meet concerning different bills that are before the legislature or different funding opportunities that are before the Budget Committee,” Whatley said.
Whatley currently holds a member position on the Committees for Finance and Taxation Education, Confirmations, Judiciary, Banking and Insurance, and Healthcare. He serves as the chairperson for the Committee for Agriculture Conservation and Forestry.
Whatley was born in Opelika and graduated from Auburn University with a bachelor of arts degree. He then graduated with his law degree from the Thomas Jones School of Law at Faulkner University.
He got a first glimpse of the political field when he participated in SGA at Auburn University, where he served as a senator and ran for SGA president.
He believes his experiences at the University allowed him to meet many different people that he now works with across the state and nation.
“Serving as a senator [was] really able to help me be able to be a better senator — not only for the state of Alabama, but primarily for Auburn and Auburn University and the research and development community,” Whatley said.
His professional political experiences range from serving as chief of staff for Chief Justice Tom Parker of the Alabama Supreme Court to working for the Alabama Public Service Commission.
He is also a veteran, earning the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Alabama National Guard.
Whatley made the decision to run for a seat in the Alabama State Senate in 2010 to represent his hometown.
His campaign was focused largely on one issue — one that had a connection to his home county.
“I chose to run because I thought we needed a fundamental change in the way we were funding education, and higher education was not receiving what I thought was its fair share of the money in 2010,” Whatley said. “I ran for the Senate to exert that leadership.”
He most recently ran for reelection and won in 2018, defeating Democrat Nancy Carlton Bedinger.
Senators of the Alabama State Senate serve four-year terms with no term limits.
“I do plan on running for reelection, as of right now,” Whatley said.
The next election will be in 2022.
Whatley finds that his career as an attorney has aided his political career as senator.
“Whether you [are] a farmer or a doctor or a civil engineer, you’re going to bring different parts of your career and your life to bear upon the legislative process,” Whatley said. “Now I happen to be an attorney, and so when I am dealing with some legislation that is central to the practice of law, I can give my colleagues some advice on how I see that playing out.”
Whatley continues to identify education as the most significant issue facing the communities in District 27.
“Education and education funding and how it’s distributed is absolutely the number one issue facing our community,” Whatley said. “It deals with the economy of this area.”
District 27 contains multiple school districts, and Auburn University is the number one employer in Auburn. This makes education that much more of an important issue for Whatley.
“It’s what’s going to make sure people are employed, spending money and ... all the businesses that bring about that are able to flourish,” Whatley said.
Whatley hopes to focus the agenda on addressing education and continuing the work he started in 2010, especially for those who are underprivileged.
Whatley said that the unemployment rate and funding for education through taxes are strongly related.
Consequently, Whatley identifies the education budget and unemployment rate as important tools to shape the decisions of his work.
“The education budget now has grown because of the jobs that we’ve created for people, whether it be the six-figure job or the job in the $50,000–$75,000 range,” Whatley said. “By creating those jobs and creating opportunities for those jobs, we’ve been able to add $1 billion to the education trust fund.”
Whatley said his most memorable moment as a legislator is from the 2017 legislative session, during which he co-sponsored House Bill 284 with Rep. Jim Patterson. This bill required insurance to be made available for purchase to the families whose children have autism. These particular insurance plans would be required to cover medically necessary treatment for autism, including applied behavior analysis.
House Bill 284 was signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey on May 19, 2017. Alabama is the 46th state to enact this type of law.
Whatley was named the 2017 Legislator of the Year at the annual Autism Law Summit, hosted by Autism Speaks and the Autism Legal Resource Center.
As a legislator, Whatley said the correspondence he has with his constituents makes the job exciting. Each day poses a different challenge, he said.
Whatley said one day, he’ll figure out how to fund a $7.5 billion budget for education, and the next day is spent listening to a constituent whose grandson is unhappy over school lunches.
“They’re calling us because they need something, and whatever issue it may be, whether it be $7.5 billion or whether it be a sloppy joe, we need to work to make sure that that constituent feels like we did what we could to help them with their issue,” Whatley said.
In addition to accountability with constituents, Whatley believes the most important aspect of his position is honesty.
It’s most important in this type of job, Whatley said, “to be honest with the people that are asking you questions about the concerns that they have.”
“Try to educate them about their own issues and how they can help in the legislative process,” he said.
But what’s most important, he said, is to “be honest with those that you work with every day.”
Whatley concluded with a small piece of advice.
“Always be truthful,” he began. “Work hard. Keep goals in front of you. Adhere to the Auburn Creed.”
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