Florida Bill To Strip Disney of its Special Status Passes Senate

The Florida Senate voted to pass a law on Wednesday that will strip Disney’s special status in the state that essentially allows the park to self govern.

The bill still needs to pass the House, something it is expected to do without much opposition, and be signed by Governor Ron DeSantis. The House is Republican controlled, and DeSantis has called for the special session, urging lawmakers to pass a bill ending Disney’s special status.

The move is in response to Disney’s stated opposition to the Parental Rights in Education law, which has been branded as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by critics. It prevents teachers from covering issues of sexual orientation and gender identity until the third grade, with restrictions on other grades banning sexual education unless it is age and developmentally appropriate.

The Reedy Creek Improvement District has existed since 1967, when Florida legislators gifted the area to Disney because the surrounding counties were not prepared to support a theme park that would bring in millions of tourists a year.

Disney controls around 25,000 acres of land around the Orlando area, and provides its own road and sewer maintenance, emergency services and in return gets a break on tens of millions of dollars in taxes and gets to avoid red tape by issuing its own building permits.

As a result, Orange County, Florida would begin receiving taxes from the giant theme park, but would also be on the hook for maintaining roads and sewers in the area, as well as offering emergency services to Reedy Creek residents and the millions of tourists that visit the park annually.

The county may also be on the hook for the estimated $1 billion that Reedy Creek owes.

Like so many things in politics, the issue may come down to money and not just the tax revenues.

As part of Disney’s opposition to the bill, the company pledged to stop donating to political campaigns in the state. In the 2020 election cycle, the entertainment giant donated $4.4 million to campaigns throughout the state, including $586,000 to Republican Senate campaigns and $50,000 to DeSantis.

DeSantis, who is up for reelection this year, criticized Disney for being “woke” and said a family-friendly company like Disney should “understand that parents do not want this injected into their kid’s kindergarten classroom.”

While DeSantis remains popular in the state, recent polling has him at 54% approval rating, the GOP-led legislature is seen less fondly in the eyes of Floridians, as only 37% approve of the job it is doing. Millions of dollars in campaign contributions from Disney could help with that, but so can a manufactured culture war. While the “don’t say gay” bill is extremely unpopular nationwide, it is far more popular in Florida, where even 52% of likely Democratic Florida voters said they supported it.

The fight may not be over yet, as Disney could challenge the order in court. The law states that any special district must be disbanded the same way it was created. Reedy Creek was not created during a special session like its dissolution would be.