Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Walt Disney Company clashed again Monday, with the governor calling for an investigation into Disney’s attempts to evade state oversight of its theme parks and Robert A. Iger, Disney’s CEO, berating Mr. DeSantis as “anti- business’ and ‘anti-Florida’.
Shortly before Disney’s annual shareholders’ meeting, Mr. DeSantis sent a letter to Melinda Miguel, Florida’s Superintendent General, asking for “a thorough review and investigation” into Disney’s efforts to evade his authority.
Mr. DeSantis and the Florida legislature limited Disney’s autonomy in February by appointing a hand-picked oversight board to a special tax district, introduced in 1967, that effectively allowed the company to run Disney World. Previously, Disney selected the board members. But the new appointees — and apparently the governor — only realized last week that, as one of its latest moves, the Disney-controlled board pushed through a development deal with the company that would limit the power of the new board for decades to come.
The agreement gave Disney massive control over future construction in the district; the new board has nothing to say.
“These collusive and self-acting arrangements are designed to overturn recently passed legislation, undermine Florida’s legislative process, and defy the will of Floridians,” Mr. DeSantis to Ms. Miguel, whom he appointed in 2019. be referred to the appropriate authorities.” A spokesperson for Mr. DeSantis added that “Disney is once again fighting to maintain its special corporate benefits and circumvent Florida law. We are not going to let that happen.”
The new board has hired four law firms to investigate the case and possibly take Disney to court.
Mr. DeSantis and Disney – Florida’s largest private employer and taxpayer – have been sparring over the tax district for more than a year. It has long enabled Disney to control fire protection, police, road maintenance and development planning at the 25,000-acre Disney World resort. The designation has been a critical tool for Disney in developing the resort, which includes four theme parks, two water parks and 18 Disney-owned hotels.
Understand the DeSantis-Disney Rift
During his speech at the shareholders’ meeting, Mr. DeSantis Mr. DeSantis for limiting the autonomy of Disney’s tax district. The law, called Parents Rights in Education, prohibits discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity for students through third grade, among other things, and restricts it for older students. Opponents called the legislation “Don’t Say Gay.”
“A company has the right to freedom of expression just like individuals,” said Mr Iger. “The governor got very angry about the position Disney took and it seems that he has decided to retaliate against us, including appointing a new board to oversee the property, basically to start a company penalties for exercising a constitutional right. And that just seems very wrong to me.”
Mr. Iger noted that Disney employs 75,000 people at Disney World, which is about 20 miles south of Orlando, and attracts 50 million visitors annually. Mr. Iger added that Disney “currently plans” to invest more than $17 billion in the resort over the next ten years, creating an estimated 13,000 new Disney jobs and thousands of indirect jobs. He said the unspecified expansion plans would attract more visitors to Florida and “generate more taxes.”
“And so our premise is that any action that thwarts those efforts, simply to retaliate against a position the company has taken, sounds not only anti-business, but also anti-Florida,” Mr. Iger concluded.
Disney World paid more than $780 million in state and local taxes in 2021, according to a Disney disclosure.
In a statement, Taryn Fenske, a spokeswoman for Mr. DeSantis, acknowledged Disney’s First Amendment rights but questioned the company’s long-term autonomy over development at Disney World. “The Florida legislature and Governor DeSantis worked to level Disney, and Disney was caught attempting to undermine Florida’s duly passed legislation in the 11th hour,” she said.
Disney claims the previous tax district council acted in accordance with applicable law when it approved the development agreement last month.
“All agreements between Disney and the District were appropriate and discussed and approved in open, noted public forums in accordance with Florida’s Government-in-the-Sunshine law,” Disney said in a statement last week.
According to the tax district disclosures, a hearing on Disney’s action was announced on January 18 at The Orlando Sentinel. The issue was discussed at a brief public meeting on January 25. Following a second entry in The Sentinel on January 27, it was approved at a second public meeting on February 8.
Mr. DeSantis named five appointees to the Supervisory Board on February 27. Three are lawyers who donated campaign money to Mr. DeSantis. Another is a founder of Moms for Liberty, a group that supported Florida’s law restricting discussion of sexuality and gender identity in classrooms. The fifth is the director of a Christian ministry known for spreading an unfounded theory that tap water could make people gay.
Disney’s annual shareholder meeting, held virtually on Monday, seemed planned with Mr. DeSantis in mind. After a brief introduction by Susan E. Arnold, who is retiring as Disney’s president, Mr. Iger the meeting with a video from a sunny Disney World. “We’re so proud of Disney’s legacy here in Central Florida,” Mr. Iger said with a smile, with Cinderella’s castle in the background.
Mr. Iger went on to highlight the resort’s expansion, which includes a new “Tron”-themed roller coaster opening Tuesday and a new “Guardians of the Galaxy”-themed roller coaster that opened last year as part of an ongoing overhaul of the Epcot park.
Just over a year ago, Disney’s response to the Florida education bill overtook the company’s shareholders’ meeting. Bob Chapek, Disney’s CEO, tried to explain the company’s mixed response to the legislation — silence followed by gentle disapproval followed by more aggressive condemnation. In the end, he only made it worse. Before the day was out, Disney employees had openly rebelled, Mr. DeSantis had been assaulted, and the company had become involved in a humiliating tit-for-tat with the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group.
Since then a lot has changed. Mr. Chapek was fired. Mr. Iger came out of retirement to take the helm of Disney again. Most of the outraged employees have calmed down. Disney and the human rights campaign.
But LGBTQ issues remain a tricky one for Disney to navigate. In this hyperpartisan moment, one side of the political divide has pushed Disney to include same-sex relationships in animated films; the other fervently opposed it. A shareholder thanked Mr. Iger on Monday for the LGBTQ inclusion in films such as ‘Lightyear’ and ‘Strange World’. Another begged him in a homophobic diatribe to “return Disney to the apolitical, family-friendly place it used to be.”
“We have recently received criticism, as you just expressed, for what some consider agenda-driven content,” Mr Iger said in response to the latter. “And I’m actually sensitive to that. Our primary mission should be to entertain.
But he indicated that Disney content would remain inclusive. The company, Mr Iger said, would continue to tell “age-appropriate” stories “that reflect the world around us and promote greater understanding, perspective and acceptance of all people.”
