The domestic partnership bill will be signed at a ceremony in Seattle on Monday.

The operating budget will be signed at 3 p.m. Tuesday. There's bound to be a couple dozen items vetoed. There usually are.

Monday, May 18
10:30 p.m. Gov. Gregoire to take bill action – domestic partnership
Montlake Community Center, Multipurpose Room
1618 E Calhoun Street
Seattle

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The "cheering" and "jeering" didn't take place at the bill signing. It takes place here. See comments below from prime sponsor Rep. Sharon Nelson, D-Maury Island, and from the Washington Policy Center's Paul Guppy.

When I was in the Army, "payday stakes" is what they called these soldier-to-soldier loans. You lend me $10 now, I pay you $20 on payday. I'm not sure what interest rate that amounts. It was about 100 percent for a week or so. Annualized....?

Lawmakers applaud payday lending law
May 15, 2009
OLYMPIA – Rep. Sharon Nelson, D-Maury Island, praised Governor Gregoire for signing into law House Bill 1709, which provides protections for borrowers of payday loans.

“This bill provides new consumer protections for those borrowers who use payday loans,” said Rep. Nelson, the prime sponsor of HB 1709. “Payday lending can trap families into a cycle of debt if they are unable to repay the loan on their pay date. This legislation provides borrowers with a simple installment plan option if they cannot repay and gives them a pathway to pay off their loan.”

HB 1709 was the product of long negotiations between consumer advocates, payday lenders and members of the House Financial Institutions & Insurance Committee. It includes portions of other bills introduced by Rep. Steve Kirby, D-Tacoma, chair of Financial Institutions and Insurance, and Rep. Troy Kelley, D-Lakewood.

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Somehow this one slipped through the cracks. It's been noted other places, but just in case some people hadn't seen it:

City Manager Eric Anderson announced today that Kristin Lynett will become the City’s new Office of Sustainability Manager on June 1, 2009. Lynett was selected from a group of candidates from across the nation.

Lynett currently works for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife where she serves as Resource Conservation Manager/Sustainability Coordinator. She has a Masters Degree in Environmental Studies, a Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Science as well as a Sustainable Building Advisor Program national certification.

“Kristin has a wealth of experience and a solid educational background that we believe will be a great foundation for building this new office,” said City Manager Eric Anderson. “She will help us become a more sustainable and environmentally aware City.”

As the Sustainable Development Manager, Lynett will be responsible for working to balance the City’s commitment to manage environmental impacts; planning and implementation of the five-and 10-year sustainability goals for City government and the community; as well as the refinement and implementation of the City’s Climate Action Plan. She will also be charged with integrating sustainability and environmental values into City plans, programs and policies.

Gov. Chris Gregoire on Friday signed a two-year capital budget that is the skinniest in many years, largely because so much money for building projects was transfered to help the state deal with a $9 billion shortfall in its operating budget.

Nonetheless, House Bill 1216 did includes a pair of substantial projects in Pierce County -- $34 million to renovate the Joy Building into classrooms and offices on the University of Washington Tacoma campus, and $10 million to push ahead with a skills center in the Bethel School District, which will serve students from a dozen other Pierce County schools.

UPDATE: I forget to mention a partial veto to the capital budget. The language that said the half-percent for art money would go only to Washington artists was vetoed. So, all those expatriate artists living in Paris can still get their absinthe.

The 2009-11 capital budget spends about $3.2 billion. Some $777 million was transferred into the state operating budget for the next two years.

House Bill 2339, which Gregoire also signed Friday, is considered by lawmakers to be crucial to keeping state parks open. It authorizes a $5 check-off contribution, starting in September, from license tab renewals to raise an estimated $22 million. That amount assumes half of vehicle owners will let the money be collected and won't "opt out" of the donation.

Among the local projects in the capital budget are:
--$128,000 for the Pierce County Therapy Center
--$1.85 million for the Milgard Work Opportunity Center at Tacoma Goodwill.
--$1.163 million for Highline YMCA.
--$1 million for the South Tacoma Community Center.
--$950,000 for a "Zina Linnik Park," in Tacoma, named for the girl who was abducted from a Tacoma neighborhood and murdered in 2007.
--$1.93 million HOPE center for Tacoma-Lakewood.
--$325,000 for the Federal Way Performing Arts Center.
--$1.115 million for the Vashon Arts Center.
--$1.9 million for community health care in New Eastside Clinic in Tacoma.
--$5 million for Federal Way urban infrastructure.
--$567,000 for Percival Landing in Olympia.
--$750,000 for Foss Waterway Seaport Building in Tacoma.
--$800,000 for the Auburn Boys and Girls Club.
--$800,000 for the East Pierce County HOPE Center.
--$750,000 for Ward Lake purchase for Olympia parks.
--$350,000 for Tacoma Metropolitan Park District, children's exploration area.
--$465,000 for two projects at Wapato Park in Tacoma.
--$750,000 for Chambers Creek pedestrian overpass (North Dock)

It isn't a real shocker because her name had topped the lists of potential candidates. But Seattle attorney Jenny Durkan has officially been appointed U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington.

Durkan is 51 and has been around politics and government her entire life. Her father is the late Martin Durkan, a powerful state senator and lobbyist who twice ran for governor as a Democrat. Durkan was a top aide to Gov. Mike Lowry and has handled legal work for Gov. Chris Gregoire, especially representing the governor in the legal challenge to the 2004 election.

Here's the excerpt from the White House press release:

Jenny Durkan: Nominee for U.S. Attorney, Western District of Washington

Jenny Durkan, 51, is a noted civil and criminal litigator in private practice. Since 1997, she has owned the Law Offices of Jenny Durkan in Seattle, WA. Ms. Durkan began her legal career as an associate at the law firm Schroeter, Goldmark & Bender, and later worked at Williams & Connolly, and Foster, Pepper & Riviera. She has served as counsel to Washington Governor Christine Gregoire and taught trial advocacy at the University of Washington School of Law. Ms. Durkan graduated from the University of Notre Dame (1980) and the University of Washington School of Law (1985).

Looks like the official web site for next year’s U.S. Amateur championship at Chambers Bay Golf Course is up. You can check it out here.

Six months after placing a hold on funding for Centro Latino amid accusations of wrongdoing at the nonprofit, the Pierce County Council is preparing to release nearly $20,000 to the group.

The council’s rules committee on Monday will consider a resolution releasing the money.

In November the council froze nearly $30,000 in funding for Centro Latino that was included in the 2009 budget. The move came in the wake of a lawsuit filed by Joy Gomez-Gonzalez, the group’s former director.

Gomez-Gonzalez claims she was wrongfully fired when she questioned improper behavior by a board member. She accuses board member David Almonte of using his position to secure a large contract for his furniture business and trying to hire a friend as a contractor on the renovation of Centro Latino’s Tacoma building.

Almonte denies the accusations. The lawsuit is scheduled for trial in November.

In freezing the money for Centro Latino, council members cited the need to ensure the nonprofit – which provides job training, youth mentoring and family services to the local Latino community – was using public funds wisely.

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It isn't often that a city takes a page from a celebutante's playbook, but Tacoma seems to be following Paris Hilton's lead for managing its social life.

Last year, Paris had her own reality TV show which set up a competition to be her new BFF -- that's Best Friend Forever.

Currently, the city of Tacoma has 11 best friends. These sister cities are scattered across the globe from Kokura, Japan to El Jadida, Morocco. But we're starting to get a little pickier about whom we're going to be palling around with.

"The Community and Economic Department proposes during 2009 to complete a policy review and recommend to Council a new ordinance that would define the responsibilities and procedures relating to the Sister City program," a recent entry from the City Manager's weekly report reads.

"As part of this effort, the application process and criteria for selecting and entering into any future Sister City relationships will also be presented for review by Council," it continues.

Read: 50 years since the program started, we're going to revamp the rules about exactly what it takes to be T-town's sista.

The Council's Economic Development subcommittee is scheduled to take the matter up on May 26 with a final ordinance appearing before the full Council in September.

As Paris would say, "That's hot."