The three GOP legislators exited the meeting before discussions on Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, citing disagreements over which members can run for chair or vice chair for Orange County’s delegation.
Delegation rules demand that lawmakers have a majority of their precincts within Orange County if they want to run for chair or vice chair, effectively limiting the position to lawmakers in Democrat-leaning districts.
Sens. Jason Brodeur, Dennis Baxley, and Rep. Doug Bankson left the meeting after Mr. Brodeur argued that rules on which members can seek chairmanship amount to limiting elected officials’ political participation in the committee.
Calling the discussion a “kangaroo court,” Mr. Brodeur said: “Why do we have this artificial threshold limiting minority access to leadership?
While the three GOP lawmakers did not specifically mention the Disney bill before leaving the committee, they emphasized their frustration with how the delegation picks its leaders.
“It absolutely discriminates and limits minority access to leadership roles,” Mr. Brodeur said.
The rule has been in place since 2017, according to Sen. Victor Torres, a Democrat from Orlando.
That year, Democrats secured a majority of seats within Orange County, but previously, Republicans were elected to chair and vice chair, Mr. Torres said.
Democrats from Orange County retorted that their caucus had not staged any walkouts in Tallahassee despite Republicans controlling both the Florida House and Senate.
The Democrats remaining in the Nov. 29 delegation meeting voted 7–0 to pass a bill that would repeal Mr. DeSantis’s previous overhaul of Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District that granted the company free reign to govern itself, its theme parks, and its extensive property holdings since 1967.
Because Democrats did not have enough members present during the vote, the vote was invalid and now requires another round to pass, according to state Rep. Anna Eskamani (D), the delegation chair.
Those remaining approved a measure that maintains the current rules for who can hold the chair or vice chair of the delegation.
Even though the three GOP walkouts said their issue was only with those rules, Ms. Eskamani disagreed.
“I can only assume this was less about delegation rules and more about Republican lawmakers not wanting to take a vote on restoring Reedy Creek,” she said in the meeting.
The bill authorized Mr. DeSantis to appoint five supervisors to run the new district, which his spokesman, Bryan Griffin, said was previously unaccountable to Florida voters.
Disney previously had the power to enact and enforce its own zoning laws and building codes, along with control of taxes and utility services.
Republicans argued that Disney’s power over Reedy Creek skirted public scrutiny and accountability.
Sen. Joe Gruters (R) of Sarasota, a former chairman of the Florida Republican Party from 2018 to 2022, was the sole Republican to vote against an April amendment to limit Disney’s land development control in Orange County.
Orange County Democrats will meet again in a week to consider the Disney bill to undo the governor’s control of the special district.
If passed, the bill would face a steep uphill battle in Tallahassee, where the Republican majority had previously voted to grant the governor control of the district.
Mr. DeSantis would also have the chance to veto the bill if it reached his desk.
However, Mr. Gruters indicated to the Orlando Sentinel he would consider supporting the bill and said in a previous statement that “the people’s pocketbooks are more powerful at influencing corporate behavior than the heavy hand of government.”
The Epoch Times reached out to Mr. Gruters for comment.
