“You Are Not Going to Win This Fight.” DeSantis Reveals NEW Florida Bill to Revoke Disney’s Agreements with Old Reedy Creek Board

Disney4me · April 17, 2023

Things just got more complicated for Disney’s old Reedy Creek Improvement District (now called the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District).

Reedy Creek

The District has been a big topic in the news lately after the new Board of Supervisors discovered an agreement made between Disney and the old Board that gave Disney a significant amount of power in the District for a long time. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has threatened actions against Disney to combat this, and now he’s outlined his plan of attack.

On April 17th, DeSantis held a press conference at the Reedy Creek Administration Building which was streamed live by ClickOrlando. DeSantis began the conference by saying “We have a government of laws…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 indicated that the idea of a corporation having its “own government” was something they determined was no longer in the best interest of the state of Florida, which is why they ultimately put a state-controlled board over the District. He shared that this was done to ensure accountability and make sure the debts would be paid by Disney, without increasing local residents’ taxes.

Reedy Creek

According to DeSantis, while that was happening Disney made special deals to “circumvent” the process. He said that the agreements Disney made with the prior Board (because the prior Board was essentially put in place by Disney) were a “legal fiction” that gave Disney the power to continue controlling things. DeSantis said that this was in direct defiance of the will of the people of Florida. He continued, “That’s not gonna work. That’s not gonna fly.”

Meanwhile, Disney has defended their agreements as having been properly agreed to and noticed. So here’s what DeSantis plans to do and what he expects the new Board of Supervisors will do next.

Actions by the Board

First, DeSantis argued the agreements Disney entered into with the prior Board have a “plethora of legal infirmities” that render them void. He said that he anticipates the Board will find that as well and will “take the Board out of those agreements.”

According to DeSantis, there are alleged issues with the agreements when it comes to providing notice, self-dealing, and consideration. He said there will likely be a legal briefing at the Board’s meeting and he anticipates the Board will find that the agreements between Disney and the old Board were not valid.

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Obtained via ClickOrlando Livestream

DeSantis also indicated that at the Board’s next meeting (which is on Wednesday, April 19th) he expects they’ll tackle a lot of issues. One thing DeSantis expects is that the Board will look at some of the infrastructure to see whether it might be better to sell some of the utilities to a private entity that could operate things more efficiently.

He also said the Board may be looking at pay increases for first responders in the District.

Reedy Creek

DeSantis also discussed how some people were frustrated by the mask rules at Disney during COVID-19. He said that he thinks the District would be within its right to say that anyone who’s a patron of any business within the District can be there mask-free. Making changes to the mask rules is something previously alluded to by one of the new Board members.

DeSantis also discussed potential action that would make it clear that there’s a zero-tolerance policy for human trafficking within the District.

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Old Mask Sign

He also said the Board may look at the value of the property within the District. He discussed how the appraisal of the property Disney owns within the District could be changed so that there’s a “more honest assessment.”

When it comes to the debt of the District, DeSantis also said they’re looking to get that debt paid off as quickly as possible, so they may take steps to accelerate the debt payment. Current outstanding debts are in the amount of around $1 billion.

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©Disney

DeSantis also discussed the Board potentially looking at what role they can play in ensuring more workforce housing. Disney did announce a project to build more affordable housing in Orlando already.

Overall, he said the Board’s actions are all about making sure that Disney is following the law, paying taxes, and paying its debts.

Actions by the Legislature

Even if the Board’s actions don’t work (and because they could lead to litigation), DeSantis indicated that there is a Florida law — Chapter 163 Section 3241 — that provides the legislature with the ability to revoke development agreements under certain circumstances.

The Florida law he is referring to is called “Modification or revocation of a development agreement to comply with subsequently enacted state and federal law” and it indicates as follows: “If state or federal laws are enacted after the execution of a development agreement which are applicable to and preclude the parties’ compliance with the terms of a development agreement, such agreement shall be modified or revoked as is necessary to comply with the relevant state or federal laws.”

Obtained via ClickOrlando Livestream

According to DeSantis, he has worked with leaders of the Florida House and Senate and there is a bill that will be put out in the Florida legislature that will “make sure” that the agreements entered into by Disney and prior Board are “revoked” and that the “people’s will is established and is upheld.”

Reedy Creek

DeSantis went on to say that having a corporation serving as their own government isn’t good government, and that Florida is now in a different era than it was when Reedy Creek was first established. He said that there are a lot of competitors now that are treated differently and they want to “make sure that Disney lives under the same laws as everybody else.”

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Magic Kingdom

Representative Fred Hawkins (Florida House) spoke and said that Disney made an 11th-hour deal in the “middle” of the night with these agreements between it and the Board, even though it has been noted previously that Disney did notice their actions, the agreements were placed in agendas that individuals could see, and they were approved in a public meeting). Hawkins said “Disney acted in only their favor, and not of the people. The legislature is appalled by this action.”

He said that we’ll hear updates in the days to come about what the Legislature will be doing to prevent anything further from happening.

Obtained via ClickOrlando Livestream

Blaise Ingoglia (Florida Senate) also spoke and said that in his view it was “unconscionable that one corporation would hold that much power.” He directed some words to Disney: “You are not going to win this fight, this Governor will.”

His advice to Disney? He said “just let it go,” apparently making a Frozen reference.

Obtained via ClickOrlando Livestream

According to DeSantis, we’ll see an update about this proposed bill within the next week or so. He shared that they are just going to have to keep “fighting back” and that they’ll continue to do so.

Land the District Owns

While much of the land within the District is owned by Disney, there appears to be some land owned by the District that Disney does not own. DeSantis admitted that he wasn’t even thinking about that other land when this issue was initially being addressed (in terms of the laws changing Reedy Creek) but now people have been asking what they could do with that other land.

DeSantis said people have indicated “Maybe create a state park, maybe try to do more amusement parks…maybe you need another state prison.”

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Reedy Creek Fire Department

Though this last proposal was said by DeSantis with a smile, DeSantis did say that land and its potential future use will now be analyzed to “see what makes the most sense.”

State Inspections

DeSantis also discussed inspection exemptions. He said that once the state board took over, they started to “mobilize state agencies to ensure that Disney’s following the same rules” when it comes to building inspections and safety.

One change DeSantis appears to have suggested is that the Commissioner of Agriculture would take a bigger role in terms of inspecting things at Disney World. DeSantis specifically mentioned the monorail and making sure that it is subject to oversight for inspections.

Riviera Resort

According to the Orlando Business Journal, “Current Florida law says ‘permanent facilities that employ at least 1,000 full-time employees and that maintain full-time, in-house safety inspectors‘ were exempt from state inspections.” This change would “nullify that for Disney.”

Monorail

During the conference, Commissioner Wilton Simpson spoke about what this could mean for Disney. Simpson is the Commissioner of Agriculture, which also oversees some matters relating to consumer protection. He noted how his department conducts inspections when someone is seriously injured on an amusement ride except at large theme parks in Florida.

He said that this new legislation would allow his department to “conduct inspections when someone is seriously injured on an amusement ride,” indicating that they have a duty “to inspect and decide whether a ride can safely reopen.”

He continued, “where a person is injured should not determine how the state responds. Everyone should have to play by the same rules.”

Obtained via ClickOrlando Livestream

According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, there is a general exemption granted to all major theme parks in the state (which includes Universal Orlando, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, and Legoland, as well as Disney) for ride inspections. Yet DeSantis has seemingly suggested that only Disney may be affected by these changes.

When asked how this rule change would play out, DeSantis said that he thinks this would be established through legislation that would require inspections for all amusement parks within special districts.

Disney’s “Woke Agenda”

During the meeting, Representative Carolina Amesty (Florida House of Representatives) also spoke about how in Florida it is “we the people, not woke corporations.”

She went on to say, “We all love Disney, however, you cannot indoctrinate our children.” She said that Disney has been turned into a Company that wants to indoctrinate children on “radical gender ideologies.” This seems to be tied to arguments some have made that this is all being done in retribution for Disney’s statements against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act.

Obtained via ClickOrlando Livestream

Amesty said that Disney thinks the rules don’t apply to them. She continued, “I have news for the woke administration at Disney…this is not California, this is the free state of Florida…you do not get to indoctrinate our kids or write your own rules.”

She went on to use the Governor’s catchphrase, that Florida is where “woke goes to die.”

And There’s More

DeSantis also discussed how there is an inspection by the inspector general going on and if there’s any kind of criminal fraud that will be pursued.

In terms of potentially tolling the roads to Disney, he said that he believes the District has enough power to do what they need to do to ensure there’s adequate revenue to extinguish the debt of Reedy Creek. He said that the old District had the ability to do toll roads but that power was removed when the updates to the District were made. He seemed to indicate that the legislature wasn’t necessarily looking at imposing those taxes but “arming” the District with the powers it needed to take further action if desired.