Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law on Friday abolishing Walt Disney Co.’s autonomy over its Walt Disney World property in the state.
The legislation will eliminate Burbank-based Disney’s long-held special district, known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District, as of June 1 of next year. The special status, which a state law in 1967 granted to Disney, has long allowed the company to self-govern by collecting taxes and providing emergency services. For more than 50 years, the district allowed Disney control over its 27,000 acres in the Orlando area, including the building of new structures without the approval of a local planning commission.
The Florida Senate voted 23-16 Wednesday to strip Disney of the status and the Florida House followed in a 70-38 vote on Thursday.
Since late March, Disney has come under fire by DeSantis after publicly criticizing and calling for the repeal of legislation the governor signed that would prevent classroom discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through the third grade.
Critics of the law, including Disney, denounced what it called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill as an attack on the LGBTQ community. Disney issued the following statement: “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 Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that.”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 dissolution of the Reedy Creek Improvement District may have massive consequences in Florida. According to the Miami Herald, the counties of Orange and Osceola — home to Disney’s sprawling theme park — may inherit over $1 billion of debt owed by Disney while its residents may also have to pay an average of $2,200 more per household in local property taxes.
At a Friday press conference just before signing the bill, DeSantis said that Disney was aiming to “inject sexuality” into its content. DeSantis said he was not “comfortable having that type of agenda getting special treatment in my state.”
“You’re a corporation based in Burbank, California, and you’re going marshal your economic might to attack the parents of my state. We view that as a provocation, and we’re going to fight back against that,” DeSantis said.