Florida state House advances plan to give DeSantis more power over Disney

The Florida state House has advanced a plan to give Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) more power over Disney’s self-governing district after the company pushed back against the state’s law limiting discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom, which has become known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law. 

The House approved a bill by an 82-31 vote on Thursday that would allow DeSantis to make appointments to a five-member board that would govern the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the name of the area that Disney has self-governed and for which it has provided its own zoning, fire protection, utilities and infrastructure services for decades. 

The district has been controlled by a board that is chosen through entities that Disney controls and that is responsible for overseeing the government services that it provides. 

But DeSantis has been vocal about wanting to remove Disney’s self-governing status since April after Disney spoke out against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, a key initiative of DeSantis’s administration. 

That law, which took effect on July 1, bans primary school teachers from giving classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity and prohibits all teachers from discussions of those subjects that are not “age appropriate.” 

DeSantis moved to call for a special session to dissolve the district soon after Disney denounced the law, and lawmakers in both the state House and Senate called for another special session last week to complete the takeover. 

Democrats have criticized the measure as being only intended for DeSantis to retaliate against Disney for its criticism of the law. 

The bill easily passed in the state House with a Republican supermajority and will now proceed to the state Senate. 

If the bill is signed into law, the district would be renamed the Central Florida Oversight Tourism District. The district’s creation in the 1960s was key to Disney building its amusement parks in Orlando. 

DeSantis’s proposals, like the education law and the move to change Disney’s status, have been two of several ways he has become one of the top combatants in the country’s culture wars over social issues. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.