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Last year, under pressure from employees, Disney criticized Florida’s education law, banning classroom discussions about the sexual orientation and gender identity of young students. – Governor DeSantis began calling the company “Disney Awakened” and vowed to show who’s boss.
“If Disney wants to fight, they picked the wrong person,” DeSantis wrote in a fundraising email at the time.
Since then, Florida legislators have taken a range of hostile actions, at Mr. DeSantis’ request, targeting Disney, the state’s largest taxpayer. In February, Disney ended its longstanding ability to govern the 25,000-acre resort as if it were a county. Mr. DeSantis announced last week plans to apply new ride inspection rules to Disney.
Disney moved quietly to defend itself, infuriating the governor and his allies. Disney filed a First Amendment lawsuit in federal court, alleging a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” against Mr. DeSantis and the five-person committee that oversees Disney World’s government services. caused
In a complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Disney said, “In America, the government cannot punish you for speaking what you think.” and criticized the Parents’ Rights in Education Act, which bans classroom discussion of students’ sexual orientation and gender identity through third grade. The DeSantis administration recently extended this ban to her 12th grade.
The lawsuit accused DeSantis of conducting a “constant campaign to weaponize government power over Disney in retaliation for expressing his political views.” The campaign “currently threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes the economic future of the region, and violates constitutional rights,” the complaint added.
DeSantis spokesman Taryn Fenske called the lawsuit “another unfortunate example of the hopes of undermining the will of Florida voters and their desire to operate outside the law.” called. She “does not recognize the legal right of corporations to run their own government or to maintain special privileges not held by other corporations in the state.”
Not so long ago, it would have been unthinkable for Disney and Florida to have such a bitter rivalry. Since 1967, when state Republican leaders gave Disney property autonomy as an incentive to build theme parks, the company and the governor of Florida have enjoyed a generally good relationship. Disney has always made large political contributions. But the real impact came in the form of jobs and economic impact. Disney World is the largest single-site employer in the United States, with approximately 75,000 employees, attracting 50 million guests annually and supporting Florida’s most important tourism economy.
Disney paid and collected a total of $1.2 billion in state and local taxes in 2022, according to company disclosures.
The rivalry between DeSantis and Disney has become a national spectacle, in part because DeSantis is a leading Republican presidential candidate (although he has not officially announced a bid). He has drawn criticism from potential presidential rivals for his obstinacy with Disney. It’s a political stunt,” he wrote.
Daniel M. Petrocelli is a high-powered Los Angeles litigator who filed a lawsuit in Tallahassee on behalf of Disney. Petrocelli was the attorney Trump turned to in his 2016 class action fraud case against the late Trump University.
Disney’s case was assigned to Mark E. Walker, Chief Justice for the Northern District of Florida. Known for his scathing rulings and appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge Walker has First Amendment litigation experience. Last year, he handed victory to a University of Florida professor, saying he could not be banned from providing expert testimony in a lawsuit against the state.
“Disney regrets this outcome,” the complaint states. We have tried to de-escalate the problem, but the company has no choice as we have worked hard to find a solution.”
Disney filed a complaint minutes after DeSantis-appointed board of directors voided two agreements he appointed to oversee Disney World. After presenting evidence of what Disney called “self-dealing” and “procedural unconscionability,” the appointees voided the agreement. Langley said Disney violated Florida law in multiple ways, including failing to fully notify the public of the actions it took.
One of the deals gives Disney the ability to build 14,000 additional hotel rooms, a fifth theme park, and three smaller parks. The other restricts the use of adjacent land. For example, no strip clubs. (Disney World already has four theme parks, two water parks, 18 Disney-owned hotels, a shopping mall, and 220 acres of sports facilities.)
Disney’s lawsuit called the board’s actions “clearly retaliatory, clearly anti-business, and clearly unconstitutional.” Disney has repeatedly described the agreement as “appropriate” and is going on strike at public meetings advertised in The Orlando Sentinel.
At the heart of DeSantis’ and Disney’s feud is the 56-year special tax district surrounding Disney World. The district effectively turned real estate into its own county, giving Disney extraordinary control over fire protection, police, waste management, energy generation, road maintenance, bond issuance, and development planning.
Florida has hundreds of similar special tax districts. One covers The Villages, a huge senior citizen community northwest of Orlando. The other is for the Daytona International Speedway and surrounding areas.
In February, Congress decided to allow governors to appoint oversight boards for Disney districts in an effort to reduce Disney’s autonomy. They found that the previous Disney-controlled board approved development contracts and covenants, limiting the new board’s powers for decades to come.
Like Mr. DeSantis, they were outraged. He responded by proposing various potential punitive measures against Disney. This includes revaluing resorts for property tax purposes, imposing tolls on roads leading to Disney World, and developing land near resort entrances. “We might build a state park, we might try to build more amusement parks. Someone said we might need another state prison,” he said at a press conference on April 17.
He also requested an investigation by Florida’s Chief Inspector General of Disney’s attempts to circumvent his authority.
DeSantis and his supporters have repeatedly described their actions as simply putting Disney on a “level playing field” with other theme park operators in the state. , SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, and Legoland do not have governor-controlled oversight boards. Based on the governor’s comments, the state’s other large theme parks will not be subject to additional ride safety inspections, only Disney World.
Disney CEO Robert A. Iger called DeSantis’ actions “anti-business” and “anti-Florida.” Iger also suggests that future investments in Disney World could be jeopardized if governors continue to use Disney as a political punching bag.
“Companies have the same right to free speech as individuals,” Iger said at Disney’s annual shareholder meeting earlier this month. “The governor is very angry at the position Disney has taken and has decided to retaliate against us, including by appointing a new commission to oversee the facility, with the aim of punishing the company for exercising its constitutional rights. And it seems really wrong to me.”
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