Austin M. Allran

Austin Murphy Allran (born December 13, 1951) is a Republican member of the North Carolina General Assembly representing the state's forty-second Senate district, including constituents in Iredell and Catawba counties. An attorney from Hickory, North Carolina, Allran is currently (2007–2008 session) serving in his twelfth term in the state Senate. He is Vice-Chairman of the Agriculture/Environment/Natural Resources Committee and the Judiciary II (Criminal) Committee. He is also a member of four other committees - Education/Higher Education, Finance, Health Care, and Ways and Means.
Allran was born in Hickory, North Carolina. He graduated from Hickory High School in 1970 and then earned degrees in English and history from Duke University. Allran attended law school at Southern Methodist University, earning his degree in 1978. He married Judy Mosbach on September 27, 1980. They have two children, Elizabeth and Catherine. In 1981, Allran was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives and in 1986 to the North Carolina Senate. He served as Republican minority whip during the 1995–1996 session. In March 2005 Senator Allran called for the game of solitaire to be erased from the Microsoft Windows computers of state employees in his North Carolina constituency, claiming that such a move would save millions of dollars and improve productivity due to the working time lost while state employees play the game.