TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Washington Insider Magazine) – On Friday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis passed a bill dissolving Walt Disney World’s private government control over its site within the state, punishing the entertainment behemoth for rejecting a new legislation dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics.
According to ABC NEWS, the decision is anticipated to have significant tax repercussions for Disney and could further sour ties between the Republican-led administration and a key political player whose amusement parks have helped turn Orlando into one of the world’s biggest tourist hotspots.
The attack against Disney is the newest facade in a culture war fought by DeSantis on issues regarding gender, racism, and the coronavirus, issues that have helped him become the most prominent Republicans in the nation and a possible candidate for president in 2024.
By June 2023, the bill would abolish the Reedy Creek Improvement District, as Disney’s 55-year-old government is named, along with a few other comparable districts. The bill does provide for the re-establishment of the districts, as well as a chance to restructure the fate of the contract that permits the firm to offer services like fire protection, zoning, infrastructure, and utilities.
According to DeSantis, the corporation will end up paying higher tax than it does now, and the bill isn’t projected to raise taxes for people in the Disney area. He didn’t provide any other information.
Disney’s condemnation of a recent law prohibiting gender identity and sexual orientation training in kindergarten through 3rd grade, as well as instruction which is not “developmentally appropriate or age appropriate,” sparked the conflict. DeSantis as well as his Republican colleagues have justified the rule as sensible, claiming that such discussions with kids should be conducted by parents rather than educators.
Under increasing criticism, Disney finally announced that it would stop making political contributions within the state and would instead fund groups trying to overturn the new legislation.
Disney has been criticized by the governor for opposing the law, describing the firm as a supplier of “woke” ideology who injects unsuitable issues into children’s entertainment.
Republican Rep. Randy Fine, the bill’s sponsor, has stated that Disney is a visitor to Florida and that Floridians are uninterested in the corporation’s California ideals.
Democrats have condemned the Disney plan as petty revenge, saying that households may suffer tax levies if they are forced to bear the company’s expenditures, though the specifics are unclear.
Disney is among Florida’s largest private corporations, employing over 60,000 people in the state previous year. It’s unclear how the district’s dissolution might affect the firm or the municipal governments that surround its holdings.
The Reedy Creek Improvement District, which gave Disney ownership of 27,000 acres in Florida, was a key component of the corporation’s 1960s ambitions to construct near Orlando. Officials from the company stated that they required autonomy in order to develop a futuristic metropolis in addition to the theme park. The metropolis, on the other hand, never materialized; instead, it became the Epcot theme park.
In Florida, and the entire country, the corporation is a big political player. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, which analyzes such expenditure, the Walt Disney Company and its affiliates gave upwards of $20 million to both Democrats and Republicans in the 2020 election cycle, the most recent year for which numbers are available.
The America First Action Committee, which promotes Republican ex President Donald Trump, received $10.5 million from Disney-affiliated corporations in the same year. In addition, Disney gave $1.2 million to Democratic Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
