The political tension between The Walt Disney Company and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is not over yet.
After Disney condemned the Parental Rights in Education (“Don’t Say Gay”) legislation that was recently signed into law in Florida, Gov. DeSantis responded, saying that Disney “crossed a line.” Florida lawmakers then announced their desire to repeal the Reedy Creek Improvement Act, which has been in place since before Disney World was built. This legislation essentially allows Disney World to function with its own government. Now, we have a new development with this story.
Governor Ron DeSantis has announced that he will add a few considerations to the special session of Legislature in Florida that is taking place today (April 19th, 2022). Among the new items on the agenda will be discussing the elimination of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, according to the Orlando Sentinel. This session was originally going to be mostly about redistricting, so the changes have come as a surprise to many.
Desantis said the Legislature will “be considering termination of all special districts that were enacted in Florida prior to 1968. And that includes the Reedy Creek Improvement District.” The governor also thanked the House Speaker and Senate President for “stepping up and making sure that we make the sunset or the termination on those special districts happen, which I think is very important” (Orlando Sentinel).
Eliminating the Reedy Creek Improvement District would mean that Disney World would be regulated by Orange and Osceola Counties rather than functioning as basically their own government. This could impact construction plans, tax exemptions, and many more aspects of how the park runs.
DeSantis has also announced that he will “seek to eliminate the special carve-out Disney received from the Legislature for the so-called Big Tech law.” This law would allow users to sue big tech companies if they are censored (in some circumstances), but a special exemption was made for Disney in the bill that would ensure that the Disney+ streaming platform was not impacted.
Disney has not responded to this development yet. We’ll keep an eye on developments to this story, so stay tuned with AllEars for more of the latest updates.
Learn more about what repealing the Reedy Creek Act would mean for Disney World.
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After all that Disney has done for the State of Florida, bringing in more revenue to the state than the citrus crops ever could and making Florida one of the most travel destinations in the world, the state has become a dictatorial state. What a shame! Apparently, being a good neighbor means nothing any more!
Disney brought this upon themselves. Stay out of virtue signaling and focus on shareholder value.