The Florida Senate approved a bill
Wednesday that dissolves special self-governing status given to Disney over 50
years ago after the company publicly feuds with Republicans over a
controversial parental rights bill.
The Republican controlled chamber
passed the bill, by a margin of 23–16, that would dissolve special status
granted to the company that essentially allows Disney to self-govern on its
large property near Orlando.
The special status, known as The
Reedy Creek Improvement Act, was signed into law in May 1967 by Gov. Claude
Kirk in response to lobbying efforts by Disney. The entertainment giant
proposed building a recreation-oriented development on 25,000 acres of property
in a remote area of Central Florida's Orange and Osceola counties, which
consisted of 38.5 square miles of largely uninhabited pasture and swampland.
Orange and Osceola County did not
have the services or resources needed to bring the project to life, so the
state legislature worked with Disney to establish the Reedy Creek Improvement
District, a special taxing district that allows the company to act with the
same authority and responsibility as a county government.
The passage of the bill comes the day
after Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis called on the legislature to take
up the measure.
"What I would say as a matter of
first principle is I don’t support special privileges in law just because a
company is powerful and they’ve been able to wield a lot of power,"
DeSantis said during a press conference last month as he was engaged in a war
of words with Disney over a bill he signed which prohibits classroom
instruction on "sexual orientation" and "gender identity"
with children in third grade or younger "or in a manner that is not
age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with
state standards."
Disney released a scathing statement
slamming the bill after its signing and referred to the bill as the "Don’t
Say Gay" bill despite the actual legislation omitting the word gay and not
containing language that bans the word "gay" in schools or in
discussions of topics relating to sexual orientation and gender identity in the
classroom.
"Florida’s HB 1557, also known
as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, should never have passed and should never have
been signed into law," Disney said. "Our goal as a company is for
this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we
remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to
achieve that. We are dedicated to standing up for the rights and safety of
LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida
and across the country."
DeSantis has remained committed to
his support of the bill which recent polling suggests is popular in the state
including with likely Democratic voters.
"Look, there’s policy disputes,
and that’s fine," DeSantis said earlier this month, "but when you're
trying to impose a woke ideology on our state, we view that as a significant
threat."
"This wokeness will destroy this
country if we let it run unabated," DeSantis added. "So in Florida,
we take a very big stand against that."
In a statement to Fox News, DeSantis
Press Secretary Christina Pushaw argued that it's not "retaliatory"
for the state to pass legislation that "allows all corporations to do
business on a more even playing field."
"It was unfortunate that Disney
decided to wade into a political debate and attempt to overturn a common-sense
law, enacted by a duly elected legislature and signed by a duly elected
governor, with the support of the vast majority of Floridians," Pushaw
said. "In fact, it was Disney that ‘retaliated’ by publicly vowing to
‘repeal’ or have the law ‘struck down.’"
Republican Florida State Rep. Joe
Harding, who was a sponsor of the controversial parental rights bill, told Fox
News he plans to support the bill in the House and said he is surprised Disney
CEO Bob Chapek is still employed by the company.
"Disney has given the greatest
example you can of what not to do in crisis management," Harding said in a
statement. "How their CEO has not been fired is insane. Florida is
continuing to lead. Large corporations must be held accountable."