HomeMy WebLinkAbout13-034RESOLUTION REQUESTING CALIFORNIA STATE LEGISLATURE AND GOVERNOR BROWN
TO DENYA CLASS III GAMING COMPACT WITH THE ENTERPRISE RANCHERIA
WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors of Butte County is the elected governing body of the County of Butte, and
thus is the general purpose unit of government most immediately responsible for protecting the health, safety and welfare
of persons within Butte County's unincorporated territory; and
WHEREAS, Butte County is primarily rural, with a property tax base that is limited by state and federal
ownership of large tracts of land and relatively infrequent sales of agricultural lands that comprise much of the county's
private landholdings; and
WHEREAS, Butte County's sales tax revenues are limited by its low population density and lack of large retail
shopping centers and similar generators of sales taxes; and
WHEREAS, since the Tyme-Maidu Berry Creek and Concow-Maidu Mooretawn Rancherias entered into
gaming compacts and the People of California approved Proposition lA in 2000, the Tribes have made major investments
in casinos and hotels on their existing Reservation lands. And while the contributions of the casinos don't fully mitigate
their impacts on the community, the Tribes have become important contributors to the overall economic health, safety and
welfare of Butte County; and
WHEREAS, although the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA} generally prohibits tribes from conducting
gaming an lands that were not in federal trust status on October 17, 1988, and although the voters of Yuba County voted
in 2005 against allowing the construction of a tribal casino near the Sutter-Yuba fairgrounds in Yuba County, the U.S.
Department of the Interior has decided to accept into federal trust for the Enterprise Rancheria a tract of land located in
Yuba County near the Sutter-Yuba Fairgrounds, Sb miles from the Enterprise Rancheria's existing trust land base, in order
to enable the Enterprise Rancheria to build a large casinolhotel resort on the newly-acquired land. The Governor has
concurred in the Department of the Interior's decision, and the Legislature soon may be asked to ratify a compact that the
Governor has negotiated with the Enterprise Rancheria under which the Enterprise Rancheria could operate a Class III
gaming facility on the newly-acquired trust land; and
WHEREAS, the proposed Enterprise Rancheria Casino would have a significant adverse impact on Gold Country
Casino and Feather Falls Casino, which would adversely impact Butte County's overall economic health, safety and
welfare; and
WHEREAS, neither the Department of the Interior nor the Governor consulted with Butte County in connection
with its decision to approve the Enterprise Rancheria's application to have the Yuba County site taken into trust for the
construction of a casino, although Butte County is close enough to the proposed site that it would be adversely affected by
such a facility; and
WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors of Butte County urges the Governor and Legislature of the State of
California not to participate in damaging or destroying the economic base of the Butte County Indian Community and
adversely impacting the economy and people of Butte County by accommodating another tribe's desire to build a casino
closer to the major urban areas from which the Feather Falls Casino and Gold Country Casino draws most of its patrons;
and
WHEREAS, the legislature will be asked to ratify a Class III gaming compact between the State of California and
the Enterprise Rancheria that would result in the economic devastation of the Butte Indian Community and substantially
harm Butte County; and
NOW, THEREFORE, 1'T IS HEREBYRESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors of Butte County
urgently requests that the Legislature decline to ratify the Class III gaming compact that the Governor has
negotiated with the Enterprise Rancheria for the purpose of permitting that tribe to conduct Class III gaming on
the newly-acquired lands in Yuba County, and that any ratification bill be taken up as asimple-majority bill
heard in regular order; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOL YED, that if the Legislature passes a bill to ratify the Class III gaming
compact negotiated between the Governor and the Enterprise Rancheria, the Governor is requested to veto such
a bill in order to spare the Butte Indian Community and Butte County from the severe economic and social
harm that almost certainly would follow.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Butte County Board of Supervisors this 12~' day of March by the
following vote:
AYES: Supervisors Kirk, Lambert, and Chair Connelly
NOES: Supervisor Wahl
ABSENT: None
NOT VOT G: Supervisor Teeter
/~ BILL CONNELLY, Chair
Butte County Board of Supervisors
A
By: d ~' / G~ 7
Paul 'Chief dministrative ~cer and
Clerk .the Board of Supervisors