For 55 years, the Walt Disney Company
"Disney and other woke corporations won't get away with peddling their unchecked pressure campaigns any longer," Republican Governor Ron DeSantis wrote in a fundraising pitch. "If we want to keep the Democrat machine and their corporate lapdogs accountable, we have to stand together now."
A bill has passed through the FL Senate and House of Representatives to dissolve Reedy Creek and a few other special districts in the state. It now only needs to be signed by DeSantis in order to become law.
However, in order for the district to actually be dissolved, state law says that a majority of the district's landowners, Disney, have to vote in support of the dissolution, something which most view as unlikely. This has led critics to describe DeSantis's actions as an impotent show of spite.
″[The governor] wants to prove a point," FL state Senator Linda Stewart said. "He wants to prove he's more powerful, but I don't think he's more powerful than Disney."
The district doesn't just give Disney more power; it also protects residents of Orange and Osceola counties from having to cover the costs of municipal services for Reedy Creek, including power, water, road maintenance, and fire protection. Currently, Disney effectively pays taxes to itself to cover these expenses.
Reedy Creek also usually operates on a loss, but under the current structure, Disney's park revenue far more than compensates for that. While the other two counties would gain some of the taxes that Disney currently pays to Reedy Creek, they would also be left with the district's debts. The debts are estimated at $1 billion but could possibly be up to $2 billion.
"None of this makes any sense," Stewart said. "They just bit off way more than they can chew by trying to get the Reedy Creek district dissolved ... This is a major, major issue that I don't think it will be, in the end, very successful."
The current turmoil over Disney's special district began with the introduction of House Bill 1557 in FL last month. The bill, commonly known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill, would place limits on the education that teachers can give young children regarding gender identities and sexual orientation. While the bill was introduced by Republican state Senator Jennifer Bradley, Gov. DeSantis has been the driving force behind the anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
The bill, which is also awaiting DeSantis's signature, has received widespread criticism, including from Disney customers and workers who also say the company hasn't done enough to support its LGBTQ employees in the state. The company initially declined to sign a Human Rights Campaign letter in opposition to the legislation.
Beyond that lack of support, it was also revealed that Disney has a history of donating to the campaigns of "Don't Say Gay" supporters, including DeSantis.
In response to the backlash, Disney made several statements condemning the bill and expressing support for the LGBTQ+ community, as well as making commitments to increase donations to LGBTQ+ advocacy groups. The company agreed to end donations to the anti-LGBTQ+ lawmakers and to donate to groups working in opposition to the "Don't Say Gay" bill.
However, Disney's actions were viewed as insufficient by critics and advocates. Soon after, workers began staging walkouts to protest the company's complacency on the issue. Employees wanted Disney to not only stop giving money to the lawmakers in question, but also stop moving workers to FL, create a plan to protect workers from the HB 15557, and create an LGBTQ+ dedicated Disney brand.
Despite the fact that advocates still think Disney has a long way to go, Republican lawmakers are clearly showing that they think the company is going too far already.
"The Disney corporation is being attacked for expressing support for its many LGBTQ employees and customers," Democratic state Senator Tina Polsky said. "Are we really making this enormous decision based on spite?"
Currently, tax experts and lawmakers seem to disagree over the eventual impact of the potential dissolution of the special district, largely due to the fact that it's unclear how exactly a dissolution would play out.
