The Marysville City Council voted Tuesday night to send a letter supporting the Enterprise Rancheria casino project to Gov. Jerry Brown.
Plans to allow the Estom Yumeka Maidu tribe of Oroville to establish a casino off Forty Mile Road in Yuba County date back to August 2002, when the city entered into a memorandum of understanding with the tribe to build the casino.
"The proposed Enterprise Rancheria project will provide much-needed employment and will promote local tourism of our area," the city's letter reads. "The 4,000-plus jobs that this project will bring will provide a huge relief in a region that is suffering from the current economic downturn."
Council members voted 4-1 in favor of sending the letter, with Councilman Dale Whitmore opposing it. Whitmore could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Marysville's show of support comes on the heels of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein's public opposition to Enterprise and similar tribal gaming projects.
Senate Bill 771, the Tribal Gaming Eligibility Act, which Feinstein introduced in April, would require a demonstrated ancestral connection to the property taken into trust for such projects, and stop what she has referred to as "reservation shopping."
A 2005 advisory ballot measure resulted in 52 percent of voting Yuba County residents opposing the Enterprise Rancheria project.
Brown has a year to issue his opinion on the matter.
Approval from both the state and federal government is required for the casino to proceed.

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