Florida House passes the bill to eliminate Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District

Apr 21, 2022 in "The Walt Disney Company"

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Posted: Thursday April 21, 2022 2:40pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

The Florida House of Representatives has today followed the Florida Senate and voted to pass the bill to terminate Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District.

Earlier this week, the Florida Senate voted 23-16 to pass a bill to dissolve Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District as Governor Ron DeSantis continues to work to punish Disney for opposing Florida's HB 1557, also known as the 'Don't Say Gay' bill.

The bill will now go to Ron DeSantis to sign, leading to the possibility that the Reedy Creek Improvement District will be dissolved on June 1 2023.

The bill is likely to receive a number of legal challenges before any implications are realized for Disney. At this stage, it appears that nobody involved in voting for the elimination of Ready Creek has any plan to handle the district's massive debt and how current Reedy Creek responsibilities could be handled by Orange and Osceola Counties. Representatives of Orange County have suggested that its residents may see massive tax hikes to cover the Reedy Creek debt.

The creation of the Reedy Creek Improvement District in 1967 allowed Disney the luxury of establishing its own independent government that handles many aspects of the Walt Disney World property, including emergency services, infrastructure, and construction permitting. It remains unclear how the elimination of Reedy Creek could actually be implemented and how Disney would respond.

In a second vote, the House also passed a measure to remove the protection that Disney has regarding tech firm censorship.

These latest moves follow escalating tensions between DeSantis and Disney CEO Bob Chapek regarding Disney's opposition to Florida's HB 1557, also known as the 'Don't Say Gay' bill.

Disney has suspended all political donations in the state of Florida in response to the bill.

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castlecake2.06 days ago

Yes

Stripes6 days ago

Has Disney/CFTOD continued to replace the purple direction signage with the new blue color scheme since CFTOD took over?

mkt7 days ago

You're right. The new document will be different. It will be "different" in the way that Chris Gaines was "different" from Garth Brooks or how the drummer from Nirvana is "different" from the singer of the Foo Fighters.

Unbanshee7 days ago

Both are effectively picked by the Governor, just not technically. Look no further than the communications "strategy" with the replacement of Gilzean of the Governor's office getting out ahead of every single step of the process

lazyboy97o7 days ago

The settlement acknowledged the “need” to change the comprehensive plan, which undermines this idea. So too does the lack of an agreement, as the 2032 Comprehensive Plan wasn’t that different than the again in force 2020 Comprehensive Plan.

Brian7 days ago

That's understandable for sure. I just felt inclined to make the distinction due to the ongoing conversation, as the district administrator is selected by the board, while the board is selected by the governor.

mkt7 days ago

The new agreement will be functionally the same as the one Disney was sued over.

pdude817 days ago

You're right. This has been going on so long I just lumped all the antagonists together.

Brian7 days ago

Not to nitpick, but Gilzean was district administrator, not a board member.

pdude817 days ago

A bigger risk than keeping Garcia and Gilzean on the board as active disruptors? I don't agree with their decision to stall the federal lawsuit, but I understand why they saw the status quo as a risk to growth over the next few years.

lazyboy97o7 days ago

You don’t think dropping your bargaining power in the middle is the best strategy in a negotiation?

flynnibus7 days ago

Again… we know nothing except both sides have shown signs of positive attitude and certainty of successful outcomes. What does that mean? None if us know. All we can speculate is… they know a lot more than they have said publicly… and obvious things like "desantis is not perpetual…" were clearly obvious to them when they made these choices.

UNCgolf7 days ago

That seems wildly optimistic.

flynnibus7 days ago

“Right now…” Yes, we all know this. But again, we don’t know what back room deal they have setup. Who knows… it could even include new legislation promises… Or Disney is just rolling with the hand they are dealt… maybe they have accepted that the time to sunset their advantages of rcid is here… none of us can tell what their true intentions are right now.