WHEREAS, U.S. Representative Norm Dicks worked consistently and tirelessly for the benefit of Washington state, especially the people of the 6th Congressional District, with great honor and distinction from 1977 to 2012; and
     WHEREAS, The district that Representative Dicks' served included all of Clallam, Jefferson, Grays Harbor, and Mason counties and parts of Kitsap and Pierce counties; and
     WHEREAS, Representative Dicks was born in 1940 in Bremerton and received his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Washington, where he pledged Sigma Nu Fraternity, played as a linebacker and guard on the Huskies varsity football team, and also received his Juris Doctor; and
     WHEREAS, Representative Dicks served from 1968 to 1976 as an aide to U.S. Senator Warren Magnuson, the only person who has represented the state of Washington for a longer period than Representative Dicks in the U.S. Congress; and
     WHEREAS, Representative Dicks was elected to his first term in Congress with seventy-three point forty-eight percent of the vote and was appointed to the U.S. House Appropriations Committee in his first term; and
     WHEREAS, Representative Dicks served on the Appropriations subcommittees for Defense, Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies and also served for eight years on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee; and
     WHEREAS, Representative Dicks stood tall in Congress as a defender of the environment, receiving many awards including the Ansel Adams Conservation Award in 2008 from The Wilderness Society for work such as fostering the protection of the Puget Sound, working successfully to designate it as a participant in the National Estuary Program, and securing federal funding to study contamination in the Sound, including in Tacoma's Commencement Bay; and
     WHEREAS, Representative Dicks worked with Senator Magnuson to pass legislation that bans oil supertankers from Puget Sound; and
     WHEREAS, Representative Dicks subsequently cosponsored the original Superfund legislation and strongly promoted the cleanup of radioactive contamination at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Central Washington and made a major contribution to the restoration of endangered salmon runs, including removing two dams on the Elwha River and securing more than one billion dollars for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund; and
     WHEREAS, Representative Dicks was a firm defender of America's national parks, working to restore funding for them, including supporting the construction of facilities for visitors at Washington state's three national parks and working to preserve the Endangered Species Act, while also obtaining federal aid for affected forest workers and timber communities; and
     WHEREAS, Representative Dicks was a staunch supporter of military bases, military families, and defense-related industries in his district and in Washington state and played a critical role in the procurement process that resulted in The Boeing Company winning a thirty-five billion dollar Air Force tanker contract in 2011 that brings eleven thousand jobs to Washington state, worked with U.S. Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson to build Madigan Army Medical Center, and worked with our congressional delegation to bring the C-17 Globemaster transport planes to Joint Base Lewis-McChord; and
     WHEREAS, Representative Dicks championed federal aid for the revitalization of downtown Tacoma, helping restore historic Union Station as a federal courthouse, promoting construction of Interstate 705, advocating for his alma mater to establish a branch campus in the city, promoting the betterment of Bremerton, working with the Navy to build new housing, cochairing the effort to restore the Admiral Theater, supporting waterfront retail and recreational development, and backing the establishment of a passenger-only fast ferry route between Bremerton and Seattle; and
     WHEREAS, Representative Dicks led the way to a major settlement with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians over land claims in Pierce county, introducing and passing the federal legislation and securing the federal funding necessary to enact and implement the agreement, clearing up uncertainty over important port, industrial, and residential property, and passing legislation necessary to move the Hoh and Quileute Tribes out of the tsunami zone; and
     WHEREAS, Representative Dicks aided the growth of his alma mater, the University of Washington, into a world-class research institution with the support of federal medical and scientific research grants; and
     WHEREAS, Representative Dicks served as an inspiration and mentor to numerous men and women who have followed him into public service; and
     WHEREAS, Representative Dicks lives near Belfair on the shores of Hood Canal with his wife Suzie, where they have been the proud parents of two sons, Ryan and David, and welcomed their wives and grandchildren into their family; and
     WHEREAS, Representative Dicks is an avid fisherman who looks forward in retirement to reeling in salmon from the waters of Neah Bay, Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and off the coast of Washington state; and
     WHEREAS, The Washington state congressional delegation will not be the same without him and he will be sorely missed by his constituents;
     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Washington celebrates and commemorates the grand and distinguished legislative, civic, and athletic career of U.S. Representative Norman DeValois "Norm" Dicks; and
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution be immediately transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to U.S. Representative Norm Dicks and members of his family.