Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced Monday that the state legislature is preparing a bill to revoke development agreements that a Disney-controlled special district board provided to the company before a state-controlled board took the reins in March.
DeSantis said the Disney-controlled board offered special deals to Disney, in “direct defiance of the will of the people of Florida.” Disney, he said, essentially was negotiating with itself to prevent the state from taking control of development in the district.
“That’s not going to work,” he said. “That’s not going to fly.”
The DeSantis administration first went to battle with Disney last year after the company publicly denounced the state’s new Parental Rights in Education bill. The bill prohibits the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools to students in kindergarten through third grade. Opponents labeled it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
After receiving pressure from Disney employees, then-CEO Bob Chapek said that the company’s leaders were opposed to the bill “from the outset,” and Disney declared that the legislation “should never have passed and should never have been signed into law.” The company suspended political donations in Florida as an act of protest.
Last April, DeSantis retaliated by signing a bill that stripped Disney of its 56-year-old “independent special district” status, which had granted it the privilege of creating its own regulations, building codes, and other municipal services.
Lawmakers later decided against dissolving the district, but voted instead to give the governor the power to appoint the district’s board members.
However, before the DeSantis-appointed board took the reins in March, the previous Disney-controlled board handed control of the district’s development over to Disney.
The new board members cried foul. “This board loses, for practical purposes, the majority of its ability to do anything beyond maintain the roads and maintain basic infrastructure,” new board member Brian Aungst said during a meeting in March.
The DeSantis administration has argued that the move was likely illegal, and they have vowed to challenge it in court. They have argued that the previous board intentionally limited required public notices in order to avoid scrutiny. Disney said that is not the case.
“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 at the time.
DeSantis said that in Florida, the legislature has the authority to revoke development agreements, and that a new bill is in the works to do just that. “We want to make sure Disney is living under the same laws as everyone else,” he said.
The new, state-controlled board is likely to make several changes going forward, DeSantis said, possibly including prohibiting mandatory masking policies, implementing policies to combat child trafficking, and ensuring that the Disney property is properly assessed for taxing purposes.
DeSantis said he expects legislative action next week.
Editor’s Note: This a breaking news story and will be updated.