Senator Tom Butler Contact information

Tom Butler, born Thomas Wayne Butler on April 9, 1944, is a seasoned politician and a member of the Alabama Senate. He represents the 2nd District as a member of the Republican Party. The 2nd Senate District encompasses east Limestone County and western Madison County, including the cities of Athens, Huntsville, and Madison.

Before his term in the Alabama Senate, Butler served in the Alabama House of Representatives from 1982 through 1994. He has had multiple stints in the Alabama Senate, first from November 9, 1994, to November 3, 2010, and then assuming office again on November 7, 2018.

Butler was born in Huntsville, Alabama, U.S. He switched his political affiliation to the Republican Party in 2011, having previously been a member of the Democratic Party. He is married to Karen and they reside in Madison, Alabama, U.S.

Professionally, Butler is a pharmacist and a Medicare Health Plan manager. He graduated from the University of Alabama and then from Auburn University. He is a member of Optimist International, the North Alabama Health Underwriters Association, and the Alabama Pharmaceutical Association.

Butler has been an early supporter of making automated external heart defibrillators (AED) widely available in Alabama. He sponsored legislation to place such devices in all Alabama public schools. He was also the original sponsor of the Anti-Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1998, a statute that prohibits the sale of sex toys. This statute has subsequently become the target of controversy and litigation.

Butler sponsored and helped pass the Dixon-Butler Permanent Contract Review Act, which created a Contract Review Permanent Legislative Oversight Committee to review certain state contracts. This legislation aimed to ensure that ethical standards were upheld in state contracts issued by the Administrative branch. Butler served as chair, and vice chair, of this oversight committee.

Butler sponsored legislation to construct two State Veterans Nursing Homes (in Huntsville and Bay Minette). He worked to fund the Veterans Memorial in Birmingham, the Veteran’s Museum and Archives in Athens, the establishment of the Veterans Living Legacy at the American Village at Montevallo, and the creation of Alabama’s Veterans Assistance Fund.