Disney in Florida Governor’s sights to cancel theme park development

the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, intensified his fight against Walt Disney Co.seeking to void an agreement the company approved to limit the power of a DeSantis-appointed board to oversee his theme park ownership in the state.

Speaking Thursday at Hillsdale College in Michigan, DeSantis said the legislature would rescind changes Disney made shortly before losing control of the board.

“They are not superior to the people of Florida. And so, against all odds, we’re going to make sure Florida’s politics wins out,” the governor said.

“We’re going to look at things like hotel taxes, we’re going to look at things like highway tolls, we’re going to look at things like developing some of the property that the district owns,” added DeSantis, widely seen as a presidential candidate for 2024.

Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on DeSantis’s remarks. Earlier in the week, however, CEO Bob Iger said DeSantis’ apparent retaliation against Disney for taking a stand on a state education law was “anti-business.”

Disney has opposed Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act that restricts classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Florida lawmakers approved a bill in February that gives DeSantis effective control over a board that oversees municipal services and development in a special district that encompasses the Walt Disney World resort.

Yet before the DeSantis appointees took office, Disney pushed through changes to the special tax district agreement that limited the board’s action for decades.

“What Disney has tried to do is they have tried to say that they should be able to operate outside of the context of our constitutional system in Florida,” DeSantis said Thursday.

Source: Reuters