Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis doubled down on his war with the Disney company, saying the legislature will soon invalidate the company’s last-minute moves to circumvent the new state-appointed board governing its special district.
In a speech in Lake Buena Vista on April 17, DeSantis said he was confident the special district’s new board—at its meeting this week—would invalidate as illegal Disney’s early February deal with the old board to transfer most of the district’s power back to the company.
But in any case, he said a bill introduced to the legislature, probably next week, would end the matter.
Florida law allows the legislature to revoke a development agreement, the governor’s office said in a public statement.
“They thought they could create some type of development agreements that would essentially render everything that we did null and void and put them in control for perpetuity,” DeSantis said.
“Well, that’s not going to work.”
DeSantis said Disney’s deal with the old board has “a plethora of legal infirmities” that will probably render it void.
The deal would, among other things, give Disney 30-year control over all development rights.
DeSantis said state agencies would be more active in regulating the property than they previously did.
Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, who followed DeSantis to the podium, said Disney’s rides will undergo safety inspections.
The agriculture department’s Division of Consumer Services regulates amusement park rides.
It was unclear whether upcoming inspections for Disney put it on the same level as the state’s other large theme parks, or whether Disney might now face stricter regulation than its competitors.
Simpson said large theme parks are exempt from the safety inspections but that the new legislation would add safety inspections for those located in special districts— like Disney.
DeSantis also said Disney would no longer get to do its own tax appraisals and that its property’s appraised value—and the taxes it pays—would likely rise.
He raised the possibility that the district might choose to sell its utilities to private interests—raising money it could use to lower its indebtedness. And he noted Disney doesn’t own all the land in the district. The district itself owns some of it.
DeSantis needled Disney with his suggestions for using that property.
“What should we do with this land?” DeSantis said. “People have said, maybe create a state park, maybe try to do more amusement parks. Somebody even said, like, maybe we need another state prison. Who knows? I just think the possibilities are endless.”
He said the state intends to give the district’s first responders—some of whom accompanied DeSantis in the press conference—a raise.
Disney told The Epoch Times in an email in late March that the deal was legal and appropriate and conducted in compliance with the state’s Sunshine laws regarding open public records and public meetings.
After Disney came out against DeSantis’s Parental Rights in Education bill last year, which prohibits sex education in public schools for kindergarten through 3rd grade, he retaliated by moving to strip the company of the special status it had enjoyed since 1967 as the company planned what became Disney World.
The Reedy Creek Improvement District had given the company quasi-governmental status, making it its own county with a handpicked board. That board controlled the special district created to handle its roads, utilities, and other essential services.
The state’s action last year ended that, and in follow-up legislation in December, created the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, with five board members appointed by the governor.
DeSantis signed that bill on Feb. 27, 2023, but less than three weeks before that, the old board transferred most of its power to Disney.
On April 3, the governor announced an investigation by his office’s inspector general into the deal.
