DeSantis’ signature puts Disney district under state control

ORLANDO, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law Monday that gives the state control of Disney World’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, stripping the resort of its self-governing powers amid a feud with the governor.

“Today, the corporate kingdom finally comes to an end,” DeSantis said at Reedy Creek Fire Station No. 4 on Disney property where he signed the bill. “This is what accountability looks like.”

The law, effective immediately, gives the governor the power to appoint all five members of the governing board of the district. Members would face Senate confirmation.

At his news conference, DeSantis said he would appoint Tampa attorney Martin Garcia as the chairman of the district’s new governing board, along with new board members Bridget Ziegler, a conservative school board member and wife of the Florida Republican party chairman Christian Ziegler; Brian Aungst Jr., an attorney and son of a former two-term Republican mayor of Clearwater; Mike Sasso, an attorney; and Ron Peri, head of The Gathering USA ministry.

The new law changes the district’s name from the Reedy Creek Improvement District to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District and subjects it to various layers of state oversight. Board members were previously named through entities controlled by Disney.

It leaves the district and its financial abilities and debt obligations intact, addressing a chief concern of surrounding governments. It also prevents people who have worked with or contracted with a theme park in the past three years from serving on the district’s new governing board.

Under the old law passed by the Legislature as Walt Disney prepared to build his theme park in 1967, the district’s landowners elected the board members. Because Disney owns almost all of the land in the district, it picked all of them.

That law gave Disney unique control over development and other services within its boundaries, something usually reserved for cities and counties.

The change in the law comes amid the company’s opposition to what critics call the “don’t say gay” measure approved by the Legislature and signed into law by DeSantis last year. It prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity for kindergarten through third grade or in a manner that is not “age appropriate.”

DeSantis moved quickly to penalize the company, directing lawmakers in the GOP-dominated Legislature to dissolve Disney’s self-governing district during a special legislative session, beginning a closely watched restructuring process. DeSantis and other Republican critics of Disney slammed the company for coming out against the education law, calling it a purveyor of “woke” ideology that inject inappropriate subjects into children’s entertainment.