This story has been updated.
“Today the corporate kingdom finally comes to an end,” DeSantis said at a news conference to mark the bill’s signing. “There’s a new sheriff in town and accountability will be the order of the day.”
Established in 1967, the Reedy Creek Improvement District has allowed Disney to essentially prop up its own government, tax itself and use that money to provide services such as trash collection, flood control, power distribution, road maintenance, fire and emergency medical services, and water treatment. The district also oversees its own building code and issues permits, giving Disney more control over what it builds. It contracts with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement.
Lawmakers initially wanted to dissolve the district altogether, a thorny proposition that could have come with hefty consequences for taxpayers. The bill that DeSantis signed Monday replaces Reedy Creek with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, which will have many of the same powers and responsibilities.
The Republican-led move last year followed a squabble between the company and DeSantis over the Parental Rights in Education bill, which restricts discussion about gender identity and sexual orientation in schools. Disney said the company’s goal was for the measure, which critics call the “don’t say gay” law, to be repealed or struck down in court. At Monday’s news conference near the Disney theme parks, DeSantis and others railed against the company’s “woke ideologies.”
So what would change for visitors to Disney? It’s not entirely clear, but local observers have pointed to more cumbersome processes for Disney to build new attractions, potential political pushback and increased expenses for Disney — which could mean higher prices.
Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida, said last year that the entire ordeal will cost Disney.
“Might that be passed along in increased ticket price? Maybe,” Jewett said. “Disney has really been aggressive in raising prices across the years. In my way of thinking, they don’t need much more of a nudge to raise them again.”
DeSantis said on Monday that the bill would also end Disney’s exemption from the Florida building and fire prevention codes, and its exemption from state regulatory reviews and approval.
Richard Foglesong, author of the book “Married to the Mouse,” said last year that if the district were dismantled, Disney would not have the level of control to approve its own projects to develop and build faster than competitors. Even though a special taxing district will remain in place under the new system, Disney no longer has say over who controls that district.
“I think there’s subtle ways in which Disney would miss its controls, would prefer to have complete control aesthetically and otherwise,” he said.
Foglesong, a retired political science professor at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., said Disneyland also “does just fine” without a self-governing structure in California.
“It plays politics like other big corporations with lobbying and campaign contributions to get its way from the city of Anaheim,” he said.
Critics of the governor’s move have worried that he would use his power to appoint board members to punish Disney for publishing content that conservatives dislike. State Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando) said on Twitter that DeSantis should support legislation to close corporate tax loopholes that benefit Disney rather than install a board full of “hostile conservative cronies.”
“I asked on the House Floor if the new Reedy Creek Bill would impact First Amendment rights of Disney and was told that question ‘wasn’t relevant to the bill’ and yet half of this press conference is about Disney’s media content being ‘too woke,’” she wrote on Twitter.
Disney has been criticized in recent years for making changes in its parks that strike some as too liberal, such as removing a “wench auction” from one ride, getting rid of negative depictions of Native populations in another and changing the theme of a flume ride that was based on a movie widely considered racist.
Another state lawmaker has questioned whether the new board would allow projects that Disney wants to pursue — or permit infrastructure changes that the company would dislike.
“This new board could put a highway right through Disney if they wanted, which is something that Disney would have never allowed,” state Sen. Linda Stewart, a Democrat who represents Orange County, told The Washington Post earlier this month. “Disney has a five-year plan on how they want to see the park grow. They have infrastructure plans. They want to put a solar grid up. But that might take more land, and it’s unclear if this new board will allow that.”
Even if Disney had to adjust to a new governing structure, Jewett said last year, he thinks the company will be fine.
“Is Disney going to get what they want? Probably most of the time, yes,” he said. “They’re hugely important to our economy.”
Lori Rozsa contributed to this report.
