LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced steps he’s taking to reclaim power over Disney’s special district at a news conference Monday at the Reedy Creek Administration Building in Lake Buena Vista.
The governor said legislation coming down soon would invalidate the development agreement — which DeSantis deemed “legal fiction” — formed between the Walt Disney Company and the former Reedy Creek Improvement District Board prior to the bill-signing that eliminated the special district. Additionally, DeSantis said a bill would be introduced that would end an exemption from ride inspections by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for major theme parks.
In the wake of DeSantis taking control of Disney’s “corporate kingdom” and renaming it Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board, state officials learned of the last-minute deal struck between the theme park company and the former board granting direct control of the district’s development rights and privileges to Disney, a move DeSantis said on Monday was in direct defiance of the people of Florida.
“(The bill) was done, passed, signed. While that was happening, Disney did basically special deals to circumvent that whole process and so they controlled the board. So it’s basically like a legal fiction. They negotiated with themselves to give themselves the ability to maintain their self-governing status,” DeSantis said.
[RELATED: How Disney stripped power from Florida Gov. DeSantis’ special district board]
The governor then cited a statute — Chapter 163, Section 3421 — he claimed would reverse that deal.
“(It) provides the Legislature with the authority to revoke development agreements in this exact type of instance. So I’ve worked with both leaders of the House and Senate,” he said. “There is a bill that will be put out in the Florida Legislature that will make sure that the agreements purported to be entered into by Disney are revoked and the people’s will is established and is upheld.”
Disney responded Monday, stating that Florida approved the plan the development agreement was based upon, listed below, on July 17, 2022.
[STORY CONTINUES BELOW]
2032 RCID Comprehensive Plan by Sam Dunne on Scribd
A letter sent in an email by Disney on Monday, and initially issued by the Department of Economic Opportunity to the president of the Reedy Creek board on July 15, 2022, shows state officials completed the review of the joint comprehensive plan amendment.
“All agreements signed between Disney and the District were appropriate, and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida’s Government in the Sunshine law,” a Disney spokesperson previously said in a March 29 statement.
The governor also claimed during Monday’s news briefing the restrictive covenants signed between Disney and the former Reedy Creek board, which limits what DeSantis’ five-member Board of Supervisors can build on the property, was legally infirm.
“We have a government of laws, it said, not a government of men, and that includes the law being superior to big corporations, even corporations as big and powerful as Walt Disney Company. They are not superior to the laws that are enacted by the people of the State of Florida,” DeSantis said.
Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson echoed DeSantis, adding more legislation was expected that would allow his department to conduct routine ride inspections at major theme parks, which are currently not required to be evaluated by the state.
“We have a duty to inspect and decide whether a ride can safely reopen,” Simpson said. “We do that across the board for amusement rides everywhere, except large theme parks. Where a person is injured should not determine how the state responds, everyone should have to play by the same rules.”
In an email Monday, Disney asserted the company “has been a leader in safety and continues to develop procedures and best practices that are leveraged across the industry.”
DeSantis’ news conference comes weeks after a power struggle between Disney and DeSantis publicly unfolded following the discovery that the theme park company made a last-minute deal with the former Reedy Creek board to maintain its power over the special district.
At a meeting last month, board member Ron Peri said the group of five that DeSantis appointed a few months back after signing HB-9B in February actually had very little power to govern.
“I cannot tell you the level of my disappointment in Disney. I thought so much better of them. This essentially makes Disney the government. This board loses, for practical purposes, the majority of its ability to do anything beyond maintain the roads and maintain basic infrastructure,” Peri said last month.
The special counsel the new board hired reported that the development agreement will last for decades and bars the new tourism board from making changes to properties without Disney’s approval.
Earlier this month, DeSantis fired back at the former Reedy Creek Improvement District, requesting a state investigation after learning Disney stripped his board of its power.
In a letter, DeSantis responded to Disney’s move.
“These collusive and self-dealing arrangements aim to nullify the recently passed legislation, undercut Florida’s legislative process, and defy the will of Floridians,” the governor’s letter read, in part. “In addition, based on initial observations of counsel, the RCID board’s actions appear to suffer from serious legal infirmities, including, among other things, inadequate notice, lack of consideration, improper delegation of authority, and ethical violations, such as conflicts of self-interest and self-dealing.”
Disney CEO Bob Iger responded at a news briefing in early April after learning DeSantis requested a special investigation into the former board, calling the governor “anti-Florida.”
After being named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world Thursday, Iger told the outlet he would be glad to meet with DeSantis and Florida officials to discuss the matter.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: