Ronald J. Alting is a member of the

Indiana State Senate The Indiana Senate is the upper house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The Senate is composed of 50 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. Senators serve four-year terms ...

representing Senate District 22, which contains most of Tippecanoe County. He is a Republican. Alting was first elected to the Indiana State Senate in 1998. Prior to that, Alting served as a member of the Lafayette, Indiana City Council.

Education

Alting holds a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree from Purdue University.

Political career

Alting was President of the Lafayette, Indiana City Council from 1995 to 1998. He was first elected to the

in 1998.Joe Paul
Ron Alting Easily Retains State Senate Seat
WBAA (November 6, 2018). He defeated Democratic nominee Michael Oxenrider in 2010,Ty Jepson & Ray Carter

''Purdue Exponent'' (November 3, 2010). was unopposed for reelection in 2014, and was re-elected in 2018 against his Democratic opponent Sherry Shipley, a dean at

Ivy Tech Community College Ivy Tech Community College (Ivy Tech) is a public community college system in the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the state's public community college system and it has more than 40 locations. It is also the state's largest public postsecondary ins ...

. In the Senate, he has held the Republican Caucus position of Assistant Majority Whip. In the Senate, Alting has been chair of the Public Policy Committee and a member of the Elections Committee and Judiciary Committee. He has also been a member of the Subcommittee on Probate Code and Trusts. Alting voted for the controversial

Religious Freedom Restoration Act The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, Pub. L. No. 103-141, 107 Stat. 1488 (November 16, 1993), codified at through (also known as RFRA, pronounced "rifra"), is a 1993 United States federal law that "ensures that interests in religiou ...

in 2015, although he later said that he "tremendously" regretted that vote. Along with Senator Mike Bohacek, Alting has sponsored a

hate crime A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demograph ...

s bill in the state Senate in 2019, seeking to allow judges to increase sentences for

bias-motivated crime A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demograph ...

s (Indiana is one of just five states without such a law).Dave Bangert
Sen. Alting, his hate crime bill and the 'right side of Indiana history'
''Journal & Courier'' (February 18, 2019).Dave Bangert
Lafayette Sen. Ron Alting will vote against his own, gutted Indiana bias crime bill
''Journal & Courier'' (February 20, 2019). In 2019, Alting asked his colleagues in the Senate to "be on the right side of Indiana history" by voting for the legislation. Other Republicans in the state Senate, however, gutted the bill, removing the specified protection categories—race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability—and replacing them with a generic definition of "bias." Alting voted against the bill as amended, honoring a pledge not to support any hate-crimes bill that omitted protections based on sexual orientation or gender identity. In 2020, Alting supported legislation to create more protections for pregnant women in the workplace; the measure would mandate that additional Indiana businesses "allow pregnant women to take longer breaks, transfer to less physical work and take unpaid time off after childbirth."Tom Davies
Indiana push for pregnant worker protections gets sidelined
Associated Press (February 3, 2020). The bill was supported by Indiana's Republican Governor

Eric Holcomb Eric Joseph Holcomb (born May 2, 1968) is an American politician who is the 51st and current governor of Indiana, serving since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 51st lieutenant governor of Indiana from 2016 to 2017 unde ...

as well as by Democrats, as a way to reduce Indiana's

infant mortality rate Infant mortality is the death of young children under the age of 1. This death toll is measured by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the probability of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births. The under-five morta ...

(which is among the highest in the U.S.). However, the proposal was opposed by the business lobby, specifically the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and the Indiana Manufacturers Association. Other Republicans in the legislature ultimately killed the proposal, sending it to a study committee. In 2022, Alting came out as pro-choice in explaining his opposition to a bill that would ban many abortions with exceptions for health of the mother and rape. He criticized the bill as taking away the rights of women, "particularly those of making a choice, not that all those choices will be that of abortion, but making a choice."

Business career

Alting is a Key Account Specialist, Tipmont REMC (Rural Electric Membership Cooperative) and has been an officer in the

Indiana Guard Reserve The Indiana Guard Reserve (INGR), formerly the Liberty Guard and the Indiana Legion, is the state defense force of the state of Indiana. The Indiana Guard Reserve serves under the exclusive authority of the governor of the State of Indiana throug ...

. He is also the founder, owner, and manager of Patout's of New Orleans in Lafayette.

Personal life

Alting is a widower with two children. His hometown is in Lafayette, Indiana. He is a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

References

External links

State Senator Ronnie Alting
''official Indiana State Legislature site''
Ronnie Alting at Ballotpedia
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at OurCampaigns {{DEFAULTSORT:Alting, Ronnie 21st-century American politicians Living people People from Lafayette, Indiana Indiana city council members Republican Party Indiana state senators Purdue University alumni People from Tippecanoe County, Indiana Year of birth missing (living people)