Governor Ron DeSantis speaks throughout the Cabinet Press Conference at the tip of the 2023 Florida Legislative Session, Friday, May 5, 2023.
Alice Devine | Tallahassee Democrat via AP
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Friday that effectively voids development deals Disney it struck shortly before the governor selected a recent board of trustees to oversee the corporate’s parks in Orlando.
The development deals are at the middle of the ultimate battle in a year-long war between Disney, one among Florida’s largest employers, and DeSantis, a Republican likely gearing up for a 2024 presidential campaign.
The Governor’s Office confirmed the signing of the Act wr press release which didn’t contain every other regulatory information or comments.
The bill that passed from the Republican legislative majority just the day before, DeSantis board members vote to void the deals, claiming they were made illegally. Disney says the contracts were drawn up to help lock in long-term development plans amid escalating tensions with DeSantis and his allies.
Members of each parties, including Trump, criticized DeSantis’ fight with Disney.
“This dispute between DeSantis and Disney is crazy,” Linda Stewart, a Democrat representing Florida’s thirteenth Senate District, told CNBC. “On daily basis it looks like there’s a distinct way they need to make it harder for Disney, but every part they do costs taxpayers money to hire lawyers to defend what they’re doing.”
Stewart voted against the recent laws.
Disney sued DeSantis and board members last week, alleging a political retaliation campaign by the governor. The board objected a number of days later.
Disney declined to comment.
The feud began greater than a 12 months ago after Disney denounced a Republican-backed Florida bill restricting classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender ideology, dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics.
Shortly thereafter, DeSantis and his allies moved to dissolve the special tax district that had allowed Walt Disney World to essentially manage its own operations from the Sixties.
The 25,000-acre site, formerly called the Reedy Creek Improvement District, was eventually left untouched – but given a recent name and its five-man board replaced with characters chosen by DeSantis.
In March, recent management accused Disney of constructing 11 o’clock deals that undercut its authority. Disney says its contacts have been publicly falsified and that they don’t undermine board oversight of the district’s operations.
The corporate’s federal civil lawsuit asks the court “to stop the state of Florida from using government power as a weapon to punish private business.”
DeSantis signed a bill voiding Disney’s deals on the last day of Florida’s 2023 legislative session. The governor, who was loudly re-elected in November’s election, is seen as former President Donald Trump’s essential potential rival for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
The Legislature, which has Republican majorities in each houses, passed bills that helped implement DeSantis’ broad-based conservative agenda — with an emphasis on divisive cultural issues which will resonate with Republican indigenous peoples.
DeSantis continued to attack Disney at the same time as the drawn-out fight led some Republicans to query his strategy.
As well as to voiding development deals, the Florida legislature passed a measure that might have required the state Department of Transportation to inspect Walt Disney World monorails. Stewart said Disney hasn’t had any major issues of safety with its monorail system since 2009, when it operator died after a collision between two vehicles. It questioned the timing of the brand new measure.
“It is so obvious it’s about retaliation,” Stewart said.
Earlier this month, the state board of education approved the so-called expansion the college bill that began the dispute with Disney.