(Screenshot/10 Tampa Bay YouTube)
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced during a press conference April 19 that he had expanded the special session of the state legislature, which was meeting next week to rework and approve congressional re-districting maps, to include eliminating the 1967 law that allows the Walt Disney World Resort property to operate as a self-governing body.
“I am announcing today that we are expanding the call of what they are going to be considering this week,’’ DeSantis said at a news conference in The Villages, a massive master planned retirement community that sprawls over Sumter, Lake, and Marion counties located approximately 45 miles northwest of Orlando.
“Yes, they will be considering the congressional map, but they also will be considering termination of all special districts that were enacted in Florida prior to 1968 — and that includes the Reedy Creek Improvement District.”
The Reedy Creek Improvement District is the governing jurisdiction and special taxing district for the land of the Walt Disney World Resort. It includes 39.06 square miles within the outer limits of Orange and Osceola counties and acts with the same authority and responsibility as a county government.
DeSantis and the media conglomerate locked horns over the Disney’s public denouncement of H.B. 1557, titled “Parental Rights in Education,” colloquially known as the “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” bill, that DeSantis signed into law last month.
A spokesperson for the Disney Company had issued a statement condemning the legislation.
“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 Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that. We are dedicated to standing up for the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida and across the country.”
The governor in response to Disney told reporters, “For Disney to come out and put a statement and say that the bill should have never passed and that they are going to actively work to repeal it, I think one was fundamentally dishonest, but two, I think that crossed the line.”
Taking aim at Disney corporate leadership, including its CEO Bob Chapek, he added, “This state is governed by the interest of the people of the state of Florida, it is not based on the demands of California corporate executives. They do not run this state, they do not control this state.”
The governor’s call to eliminate the Reedy Creek Improvement District at the beginning of this month was amplified by state Rep. Spencer Roach, R-Fort Myers, a retired U.S. Coast Guardsman, who is licensed to practice law in Florida and Texas, is opposed to abortion and also introduced legislation targeting what he terms “cancel culture” on the campuses of universities and colleges in the state, H.B. 233.
In the wake of the governor’s announcement, a Republican politician and former gambling industry executive from Brevard County, state Rep. Randy Fine tweeted:
“Disney is a guest in Florida. Today, we remind them. @GovDeSantis just expanded the Special Session so I could file HB3C which eliminates Reedy Creek Improvement District, a 50 yr-old special statute that makes Disney to exempt from laws faced by regular Floridians.”
BREAKING: Disney is a guest in Florida. Today, we remind them. @GovDeSantis just expanded the Special Session so I could file HB3C which eliminates Reedy Creek Improvement District, a 50 yr-old special statute that makes Disney to exempt from laws faced by regular Floridians.
— Rep. Randy Fine (@VoteRandyFine) April 19, 2022
A legislative source speaking on background told the Blade April 19 that its doubtful that DeSantis and his allies realize the massive burden that will be thrust onto the governments of Orange and Osceola counties. “Consider things such as zoning, sewage, taxation, waste removal, and the loss of money provided by Reedy Creek/Disney for fire-police, and other critical key governmental elements that the company has established in contracts,” the source noted.
“The obvious consideration is that Ron DeSantis and the Republicans have openly declared war on the state’s LGBTQ minority and allies without thoughts of the ramifications- economic alone, and the long term damages created to the state and all Floridians as a result,” the source added.
According to historical documents from the Reedy Creek Improvement District, then-Florida Gov. Claude Kirk signed the RCID Act into law in May 1967, creating two municipalities: Bay Lake and Reedy Creek, which was later renamed Lake Buena Vista. The location, nestled between Orange and Osceola counties, would later become the site where Walt Disney World was built.
The RCID Charter created a 25,000-acre of land as a special taxing district. At the time, it was considered remote and uninhabitable, but now is the site of one of the busiest theme parks in the United States.
To make Disney’s plan happen, the area had to get special privileges from the state of Florida to essentially run itself.
“In 1967, the Florida State legislature, working with Walt Disney World Company, created a special taxing district – called the Reedy Creek Improvement District – that would act with the same authority and responsibility as a county government,” RCID says on its website.
