Florida lawmakers have voted to overturn Walt Disney’s decade-long ability to run the Walt Disney World, a move seen as revenge by the state’s Republican governor for the company’s criticism of his administration’s LGBTQ policies.
After staff protests in March over Florida legislation, criticized as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Disney stopped making political donations to Gov. Ron DeSantis and other supporters of the bill. DeSantis, who is on re-election and is believed to be running for president in 2024, has since denounced Disney as an “awakened” corporation.
One of Florida’s largest employers, the company has enjoyed state privileges since 1967, giving it autonomy over water, roads, emergency services and permitting approximately 25,000 acres near the city of Orlando. He also had to be able to issue his own municipal bonds.
The law, passed Thursday, will end the autonomy enjoyed by the Reedy Creek Improvement Area, as Disney’s Special Tax District is known, until June 2023. Walt Disney himself insisted on such privileges after being disappointed by resolution around Disneyland in California.
The dispute between a Republican governor and one of his state’s most prominent companies has become a hotbed in cultural wars over gender identity, the Covid-19 protocols and racial policies, which escalated as the midterm elections approach this fall.
“Disney and other awakened corporations will no longer be spared trading their uncontrolled pressure campaigns,” DeSantis wrote to donors on Wednesday. Disney had no comment.
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Florida law prohibits schools from teaching sexual orientation and gender identity in lower grades and other issues that are not “appropriate for age or development.”
Bob Chapek, Disney’s chief executive, said he had tried to avoid a public debate over the bill by lobbying against the legislation behind the scenes. But after protests by officials, Chapek issued a public statement against the bill. Until then, however, the bill passed through the Florida legislature – a sore point for Disney’s LGBTQ employees.
Disney has about 66,000 employees in Florida and paid about $ 780 million in state taxes in 2021. Democrats and local officials in Florida say the law is likely to pass on the costs paid by Disney to local taxpayers.
DeSantis this week asked lawmakers to extend a special session of the legislature to consider ending the Reedy Creek area. Both chambers voted to pass it, and the bill will now go to the DeSantis bureau to be signed. However, the long gap until its implementation next year will give time for negotiations.
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