ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would not go into specifics Friday, but he promised that he and the state Legislature would take “very, very strong action” in the coming weeks against Disney for an agreement that serves to strip the new district that oversees Disney World property of much of its power.
While announcing a new I-75 interchange in Ocala Friday, DeSantis was asked about the move by the Walt Disney Company that came to light last month.
DeSantis and Republican lawmakers dissolved Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, the governing body that had overseen Disney property in Florida for 60 years, in retaliation for the Disney CEO’s criticism of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, known by critics as the Don’t Say Gay law,
The new district, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, features a board handpicked by DeSantis, but otherwise was expected to function much the same way as RCID.
But last month the new board discovered that in the last weeks before the RCID was disbanded, the old board made an agreement with Disney that bound the new board for decades to the RCID comprehensive plan and land development regulations, and giving more of its power to Disney.
[INSIDER EXTRA: Videos, documents show Disney stripping power from DeSantis’ special district board in public]
The agreement was talked about at the Feb. 8 RCID board meeting, which was a public meeting, and all documents were also made public.
DeSantis has ordered an investigation into Disney’s and Reedy Creek’s actions.
“What (House Speaker Paul Renner) said and what I’ve said is, now that this has been reopened, all options are on the table,” DeSantis said. “We need to make sure that people understand whether you’re an individual or you’re a corporation, that you don’t get to play by your own rules that the people of the state of Florida ultimately are the sovereign.”
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The statement comes off a speech Thursday night that DeSantis reportedly made at the conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan. According to a report by Politico, DeSantis said that some of those options included, “taxes on the hotels, we’re going to look at things like tolls on the roads, we’re going to look at things like developing some of the property that the district owns.”
DeSantis did not repeat those options at the event on Friday, but he did say the legislature would look at trying to dissolve that binding agreement.
“There will be additional legislative action taken in Tallahassee that will nullify what they tried to do with the 11th hour and then potentially, you know, arm the board with the ability to make sure that this is run appropriately,” DeSantis said.
Earlier this week, Disney’s current CEO Robert Iger criticized DeSantis for his actions, saying the company has a right to freedom of speech, and that DeSantis is punishing the company for exercising a constitutional right.
“Any action that supports those efforts simply to retaliate for a position (Disney) took sounds not just anti-business, but it sounds anti-Florida, and I’ll just leave it at that,” Iger said in a shareholders meeting on Monday.
The Florida Legislature currently has a month left in its 60-day legislative session, however, if necessary, the Legislature could be called back for a special session. DeSantis used special sessions in 2022 to get the Legislature to dissolve Reedy Creek and then later to set up the new board.
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