It has taken a while but today Gov. DeSantis took control over the board that governs Disney World’s special tax district when the State Senate voted for a bill which the Florida House had passed yesterday.
Florida lawmakers voted Thursday to give Gov. Ron DeSantis new power over the state’s most iconic theme parks amid his ongoing feud with Disney.
Under a fast-tracked bill that could be headed to the Republican governor’s desk by the end of the week, the state would take over the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the 55-year-old government body that has effectively given Disney control over the land around its Orlando-area theme parks. The district’s existing board, made up of individuals with close ties to Disney, would be replaced by a five-member board hand-picked by DeSantis.
The state House, where Republicans hold a supermajority, passed the measure on an 82-31 vote. The GOP-led state Senate is expected to take up the bill within the next 36 hours. If the measure passes the chamber, it will go to DeSantis for final approval. He is expected to sign it.
The initial plan was to get rid of the special district all together but that would have dumped Disney’s $1 billion in debt on surrounding counties and also would have forced them to take over providing services like the local fire department. So legislators went back to the drawing board and came up with a new plan.
DeSantis wanted the arrangement — pushed by Walt Disney himself — to be terminated after Disney corporate executives criticized a bill he championed that prevents teachers from discussing gender and sexual orientation in early grades. Critics dubbed the legislation the “don’t say gay” bill, and Disney leaders vowed to help repeal it.
But dissolving the taxing district could have left taxpayers on the hook for Disney’s more than $1 billion in bond debt. In response, DeSantis called a special session to consider a 189-page bill to replace the Reedy Creek board with a new authority called the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. People who have worked at Disney within the last three years will not be allowed on it.
“The district is basically exactly the same, but now Disney World will go from being abnormally independent to being abnormally controlled,” said Jacob Schumer, an attorney in Central Florida who specializes in local government matters. “They still get their special little district with taxes that can pay for lavish roads and luxury projects. But they’re no longer pulling the strings.”
Some have criticized this as DeSantis cracking down on a corporate critic. There’s definitely some truth to that but it’s also true that no other business enjoyed the special privileges that Disney had, essentially operating its own local government. Now their plans for the future will have to be considered by outsiders just like every other business in the state.
“This new board could put a highway right through Disney if they wanted, which is something that Disney would have never allowed,” said state Sen. Linda Stewart, a Democrat who represents Orange County, which includes Orlando. “Disney has a five-year plan on how they want to see the park grow. They have infrastructure plans. They want to put a solar grid up. But that might take more land, and it’s unclear if this new board will allow that.”
Though the bill didn’t pass the Senate until today, Gov. DeSantis actually celebrated the change earlier this week saying, “There’s a new sheriff in town and that’s just the way it’s going to be.”
On Reedy Creek legislation:
“A lot of folks in the media were saying, ‘oh my gosh, Disney’s actually going to pay less in taxes and Floridians are going to pay more taxes’… Well this puts that to bed.”
“There’s a new sheriff in town.” –@GovRonDeSantis pic.twitter.com/mdoGmirTln
— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) February 9, 2023
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