Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is soon to take control of Walt Disney World’s self-governing district after Senate Republicans approved a bill. The bill now awaits the governor’s signature, which would require him to appoint a five-member board to oversee the government services the district provides in the company’s properties in Florida. The vote on the Disney bill marks the end of a special legislative session focused on the conservative agenda of Governor DeSantis, who has become a national GOP star and potential White House contender.
Democratic Senator Linda Stewart expressed concern over the bill, stating, “This all seems a retaliation by the governor for Disney voicing its support for the LGBTQ community.” The bill changes the district’s name from the Reedy Creek Improvement District to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District and subjects it to various layers of state oversight. The bill leaves the district and its financial abilities and debt obligations intact, addressing a concern of surrounding governments.
Republican Representative Fred Hawkins, the bill sponsor, defended the bill stating, “This bill takes an old district and modernized it and updated it. It took rights away that no corporation should have in being able to construct or have an unfair competitive advantage over its competitors.” The creation of the district was instrumental in the company’s decision to build near Orlando in the 1960s.
Separately, Republicans in the House gave final passage to two bills that amount to technical fixes to key initiatives on immigration and voter fraud by Governor DeSantis. One bill cuts off a legal challenge to the governor’s migrant relocation program, while the other strengthens the prosecutorial power of the governor’s election police unit.
Republican Representative Juan Alfonso Fernandez-Barquin said, “This ensures fraud will be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, as it should.” Democrats have criticized the election police unit as being meant to discourage people from voting and unnecessary. Democratic Representative Dianne Hart stated, “This is a fear tactic and it’s voter suppression, plain and simple.”
Governor DeSantis is expected to sign the bills into law. Lawmakers will return to Tallahassee in early March for their regular legislative session, where they are expected to approve another slate of priorities on guns, education, capital punishment, and abortion.
