Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and the Walt Disney Company have been engaged in a battle for more than a year after the company came out strongly against the state’s Parental Rights in Education bill and has fought to maintain control over the special district encompassing Walt Disney World.
The battle between DeSantis and Disney was thought to have reached its peak when the governor restructured the company’s self-governing tax district in Orange and Osceola counties, formerly known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District. The discovery of an agreement undercutting the new governor-appointed board, however, has caused the long battle to continue.
Here is a look at the pivotal moments of the feud between the GOP governor and the entertainment giant.
DESANTIS SIGNS BILL RESTRUCTURING DISTRICT ENCOMPASSING WALT DISNEY WORLD
May 12, 1967: Gov. Claude Kirk (R-FL) signs the Reedy Creek Improvement Act into law, creating a special taxing district that allows Disney to manage its property independently to develop plans for the Walt Disney World Resort and the late-Walt Disney’s vision for an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. The company would scrap its original plans for E.P.C.O.T., later creating a theme park with the same name, but still, the company maintained powers to create a nuclear power plant and an airport, among other things, on its land.
Feb. 24, 2022: Lawmakers in the Florida state House passed HB 1557, known as the Parental Rights in Education bill.
The bill outlawed classrooms from kindergarten through third grade from teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity and forbade schools from withholding information from parents about students’ health and well-being. The bill was dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by opponents.
March 7, 2022: Despite pressure from activists within the company, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in an internal memo the company would not take a public stance on the bill.
“As we have seen time and again, corporate statements do very little to change outcomes or minds. Instead, they are often weaponized by one side or the other to further divide and inflame. Simply put, they can be counterproductive and undermine more effective ways to achieve change,” Chapek said.
March 8, 2022: The Parental Rights in Education bill passed in the state Senate.
March 9, 2022: At a company shareholder meeting, Chapek backtracked and publicly opposed the legislation.
“No matter how well-intended, didn’t quite get the job done, but we’re committed to supporting the community going forward,” Chapek said.
He also said he called DeSantis to “express our disappointment and concern that if the legislation becomes law, it could be used to unfairly target gay, lesbian, nonbinary, and transgender kids and families.”
DeSantis later said in his 2023 book, The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Survival, Chapek told him during a call he was feeling immense pressure.
“As the controversy over the Parental Rights in Education bill was coming to a head, Chapek called me. He did not want Disney to get involved, but he was getting a lot of pressure to weigh in against the bill,” DeSantis wrote.
“We get pressured all the time,” Chapek added, per the book. “But this time is different. I haven’t seen anything like this before.”
March 28, 2022: DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education bill into law.
In his press conference, DeSantis accused opponents of the bill of “sloganeering” and pushing “fake narratives,” adding that most critics had not read the text of the bill.
After the bill was signed, Disney issued a statement saying its goal was to get the law repealed or struck down in the courts.
“Florida’s HB 1557, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed into law. Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that,” the company said.
March 29, 2022: DeSantis went after Disney for its statement, proclaiming it as “fundamentally dishonest” while vowing to serve the interests of Florida residents rather than the California-based company.
“This state is governed by the interests of the people of the state of Florida. It is not based on the demands of California corporate executives,” DeSantis said. “They do not run this state. They do not control this state.”
April 19, 2022: DeSantis announced he would seek to strip Disney of its special taxing district, which encompasses the Walt Disney World Resort. The legislature eventually passed a law stripping away the special district and paving the way for a replacement to be drafted.
Nov. 8, 2022: DeSantis is reelected by nearly 20 percentage points, solidifying his popularity in the Sunshine State. His Democratic opponent, Charlie Crist, blasted him for engaging in a battle with Disney, but Crist’s campaign went down in defeat. Disney did not publicly speak on the election.
Feb. 8, 2023: The state House approved a bill that would restructure Disney’s district and give the state control of the board of the renamed “Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.” The next day, the state Senate voted to approve the bill, sending it to DeSantis’s desk.
As the Florida House passed the bill, the Disney-backed board of the Reedy Creek Improvement District and Disney instituted an agreement that would undermine the legislation and effectively allow Disney to retain its control over the district.
The agreement essentially made it so the governing board of the district can’t make most changes without permission from Disney. The agreement also stipulates that it “shall continue until 21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, King of England, living as of the date of this declaration.”
Feb. 27, 2023: DeSantis signed the bill, which dissolved Disney’s “corporate kingdom” and put it under the oversight of the state government via a new state-appointed board.
“Allowing a corporation to control its own government is bad policy, especially when the corporation makes decisions that impact an entire region,” DeSantis said. “This legislation ends Disney’s self-governing status, makes Disney live under the same laws as everybody else, and ensures that Disney pays its debts and fair share of taxes.”
March 8, 2023: The new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board, which was appointed by DeSantis, meets for the first time and vows to make “big changes.”
The board did not elaborate on the changes it had in store at the meeting, but board member Brian Aungst Jr. said the district would be about “oversight, transparency, and accountability.”
March 29, 2023: The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board announces it has discovered the Feb. 8 agreement between Disney and the prior Reedy Creek Improvement District board, and the new board vows legal action to void the accord.
“We’re going to have to deal with it and correct it,” board member Aungst said at a press conference Wednesday, according to the Orlando Sentinel. “It’s a subversion of the will of the voters and the legislature and the governor. It completely circumvents the authority of this board to govern.”
Disney defended the agreement saying it was “appropriate” and that all agreements were discussed in open forums.
“All agreements signed between Disney and the District were appropriate, and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida’s Government in the Sunshine law,” Disney said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
DeSantis’s office that day said it was “aware” of the agreement and suggested the agreements “may have significant legal infirmities” which would void them.
“The Executive Office of the Governor is aware of Disney’s last-ditch efforts to execute contracts just before ratifying the new law that transfers rights and authorities from the former Reedy Creek Improvement District to Disney,” Taryn Fenske, communications director for the governor’s office, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“An initial review suggests these agreements may have significant legal infirmities that would render the contracts void as a matter of law. We are pleased the new Governor-appointed board retained multiple financial and legal firms to conduct audits and investigate Disney’s past behavior,” the statement continued.
April 3, 2023: DeSantis orders the state’s chief inspector general to investigate the former Reedy Creek Improvement District board by looking for any “any legal or ethical violations” by the board in relation to their conduct before the state takeover of the district.
Investigators are told to focus on the district’s “adherence to applicable Florida civil and criminal laws and ethics requirements,” the qualifications of the board members, the “involvement of Walt Disney World employees and agents” in the actions of the district, and “any financial gain or benefit derived by Walt Disney World” as result of the work of the district.
The letter by DeSantis also says to examine all Reedy Creek Improvement District “board, employee, or agent communications” related to the district’s actions, the bill that restructured the district, the district itself, and the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
April 6, 2023: The Florida governor vowed to investigate Disney’s taxes for the resort’s hotels and impose tolls on the roads that go to the resort’s theme parks.
“They are not superior to the people of Florida,” DeSantis said while speaking at Hillsdale College in Michigan. “So come hell or high water, we’re going to make sure that policy of Florida carries the day.”
April 17, 2023: DeSantis announced a bill that will revoke the agreement Disney made with the former Reedy Creek Improvement District board to undercut the state’s takeover of the district.
DeSantis said the board should be able to use one of the “plethora of legal infirmities” in the agreement to void it and said the legislature will get involved as “a strong one, two punch.” His comments came while speaking at a press conference in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
“Chapter 163 section 3241 of Florida statute provides the legislature with the authority to revoke development agreements in this exact type of instance, and so I’ve worked with both leaders of the House and Senate. There is a bill that will be put out in the Florida legislature that will make sure that the agreements purported to be entered in by Disney are revoked and the people’s will is established and is upheld,” DeSantis said.
The Florida governor also teased taking action to subject the resort’s monorail system and attractions to state inspection, saying it would put Disney in line with other amusement parks in the Sunshine State.
DeSantis also discussed how the land the district owns would be analyzed by the state to see how to use it best, joking that the state could build a new prison on the land.
“People are like, ‘What should we do with this land?’ And so people have said, maybe create a state park, maybe try to do more amusement parks, and someone even said maybe need another state prison, who knows? I mean, I just think that the possibilities are endless, and so that is now going to be analyzed to see what would make the most sense, and that wasn’t necessarily even on the radar,” DeSantis said.
April 19, 2023: Lawyers for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board say that the agreement Disney made with the previous Reedy Creek Improvement District is “null and void” because it did not follow state sunshine laws.
“Procedurally, Disney and the prior board failed to adhere to the state sunshine laws. Specifically, they failed to mail notice to the other property owners in the district. The obligation to make such a mailing is crystal clear under the law. And Disney’s failure dooms their entire effort to evade the will of the people of Florida,” David Thompson, an attorney for the new board, said at the board meeting Wednesday.
The declaration by the lawyers for the board came a day after lawmakers in the Sunshine State introduced an amendment to undercut the agreement.
April 26, 2023: The board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District passed a resolution declaring the agreement between Disney and the previous board as void ab initio, meaning it is void from the beginning, at a meeting on Wednesday.
Shortly after the board approved the resolution, Disney filed a lawsuit against DeSantis and members of the board in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. The suit alleges a “relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain state officials.”
The lawsuit alleges the state violated Disney’s First Amendment right to speech, the contract and takings clauses in the U.S. Constitution, and the company’s 14th Amendment right to due process. It also cites the governor’s book, The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival, five times.
“We are unaware of any legal right that a company has to operate its own government or maintain special privileges not held by other businesses in the state,” Taryn Fenske, communications director for the governor, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “This lawsuit is yet another unfortunate example of their hope to undermine the will of the Florida voters and operate outside the bounds of the law.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Amid the feud, an interesting tidbit about DeSantis’s past involving the Magic Kingdom came to light. In what he conceded was an “ironic choice,” DeSantis and his wife Casey were married at Walt Disney World in 2009. His only condition for agreeing to the venue was that the likes of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck not be part of the event.
“My only condition was that no Disney characters could be part of our wedding. I wanted our special day to look and feel like a traditional wedding,” DeSantis said in his book.
