WA SR8655

Washington State Senate Resolution 8655 honors Ralph Munro, who served five terms as Secretary of State over two decades and dedicated his career to disability rights, environmental protection, and public service

Munro pioneered disability rights legislation requiring Washington public schools to serve students with physical and mental disabilities, a model that inspired federal education legislation, and introduced curb cuts at street corners two decades before federal accessibility requirements

Led efforts to resettle 30,000 Vietnamese refugees in Washington following the Vietnam War and played a pivotal role in ending orca whale hunts in Puget Sound through legal action

Helped transform Washington's fragmented social service agencies into the Department of Social and Health Services and saved the old Milwaukee Road corridor, now part of the Great American Rail Trail

Resolution adopted April 21, 2025, directs the Secretary of the Senate to transmit a copy to Munro's family; his legacy continues through the Ralph Munro Trail in Olympia and the Ralph Munro Institute for Civic Education at Western Washington University