Understand how Florida’s governor faced Disney for control of the district that houses parks

The area of ​​Disney theme parks in Orlando is the scene of a dispute that exceeds a year between the Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, and the company, the largest private employer in the state.

Last Monday (27), the politician signed a bill that changes the status of Disney’s special tax district, called Reedy Creek Improvement District, which has granted Disney exclusive powers for more than half a century.

The bill allows the governor to replace the district’s existing council — made up primarily of people with ties to Disney — with a handpicked five-member body.

“Today, the corporate realm finally comes to an end. There’s a new sheriff in town and accountability will be the order of the day,” DeSantis said.

Board nominees include Martin Garcia, a Tampa attorney and Republican donor whose private equity firm contributed $50,000 to DeSantis’ re-election, and Bridget Ziegler, a Sarasota County school board member and co-founder of the conservative organization Moms for Liberty (“Mothers for Freedom”).

She is also the wife of Christian Ziegler, the new chairman of the Florida Republican Party.

The new board is due to meet next week, DeSantis said, “so buckle up.”

In declaration to CNN After the project was approved by the state legislature earlier this month, Jeff Vahle, president of the Walt Disney World Resort, stressed that the company was “ready to work within this new framework and continue to innovate, inspire and bring joy to the millions of visitors who come to Florida to visit Walt Disney World every year.”

See below for key information about the case.

What is Reedy Creek?

Reedy Creek is the name of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a special purpose district created by state law in May 1967 that gives The Walt Disney Company government control over land in and around its central Florida theme parks. The district is southwest of Orlando.

At the time, the land was little more than uninhabited pasture and swamp, according to the Reedy Creek website.

With the special purpose district, Disney took responsibility for providing municipal services such as power, water, roads, and fire protection, but it was also freed from dealing with legal red tape or paying taxes for services that benefited the general public.

According to Richard Foglesong, author of the book Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando, Disney had already had problems with the public authorities in Anaheim, California, at its Disneyland park, completed a decade earlier.

With these issues in mind, Disney pushed for a special purpose district in Florida that would give the company the ability to govern itself. In return, Florida became the home base for Disney World and its millions of tourists.

“Florida needed Disney more than Disney needed Florida,” Foglesong told CNN .

Today, the Reedy Creek Special District covers approximately 10,000 hectares in Orange and Osceola counties, including four theme parks, two water parks, a sports complex, 280 km of highways, 107 km of waterways and the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, says its website.

“The cooperation and commitment between the Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Walt Disney World Company is as strong today as it was when the district was created in 1967,” states the Reedy Creek website.

“The result is an example of how a working partnership between companies and the government can be prosperous for both sides”, he adds.

DeSantis x Disney

The lawsuit against Disney comes nearly a year after the company spoke out against a Florida bill — which DeSantis later signed into law — to restrict certain classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity.

In March of last year, as outrage over the legislation spread across the country, Disney released a statement pledging to help repeal the law or overturn it in the courts.

The company had also said it was “dedicated to defending the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida and across the country.”

DeSantis’ response was a call to lawmakers to strip Disney of special government power, which it did last year.

what was proposed

Last year, DeSantis challenged lawmakers to unravel the 55-year-old Reedy Creek Improvement Act as part of a special legislative session, and ultimately signed a bill that would close the district on June 1.

Lawmakers left the city without a plan to undo Disney’s half-century of control or how to ensure that residents of Orange and Osceola counties aren’t left stranded on financing Reedy Creek’s services or who would pay its $100 million debt. 1 billion.

Amidst the backlash, the district informed its bondholders that Florida could not dissolve the district without assuming its debts.

DeSantis repeatedly offered assurances that taxpayers would not have to foot the bill.

The future of Reedy Creek

Lawmakers, however, changed their stance amid concerns that the disruption of Reedy Creek’s debt and contracts violated state law that created the special tax district.

Instead, DeSantis’ nominees will be entrusted with the district’s longstanding powers to tax, build and borrow money for projects and services around Disney’s vast presence in Orange and Osceola counties.

It also renames Reedy Creek the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, restricts its use of eminent domain, and removes never-used powers that could have allowed Disney to build its own airport or a nuclear power plant.

The new future for Reedy Creek was approved by the GOP-led state legislature earlier this month in a special session.

“Disney took a stand against something that was just about protecting young children and making sure students can go to school learning to read, write, add, subtract and not have a teacher tell them they can change genders,” he said. DeSantis.

“And I think most parents would agree with that. But you know, that was just a mild annoyance. I think what we realized after the dust settled was that there was clearly a movement within the corporation itself,” she added.

2024 presidential race

The Disney run has been central to the narrative surrounding DeSantis’ rise to the top of the 2024 Republican presidential prospects, and a demonstration of the lengths the Republican has gone to push his “war on awakening.”

By taking on Disney, DeSantis surprised one of the state’s largest and most influential employers. With an army of lobbyists and millions in past campaign donations to Republican lawmakers, the company wielded considerable influence in the halls of Florida’s legislature.

While the move was celebrated by the conservative media, several of DeSantis’s would-be GOP rivals were critical.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said the conflict with Disney was “beyond the scope of what I, as a conservative, limited-government Republican, would be prepared to do.”

And New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu said penalizing companies for political speech sets “the worst precedent in the world.”

DeSantis has played down such criticisms. The bill’s signing event turned into a lengthy Disney takedown that extended beyond his foray into Florida legislative activity.

The Republican featured speakers who attacked the company’s vaccine and mask policies, its treatment of firefighters and its latest entertainment products.

*With information from Steve Contorno, Kit Maher, Eric Levenson, Dianne Gallagher and Jack Forrestfrom CNN International