SANIKA: WE HAVE LIVE AMTE COVERAGE. GR EG FOX JOINS US FROM OUTSIDE THE STATE CAPITOL WHERE A LARGE RALLY IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. BUT LET’S BEGIN WITH BREAKING NEWS AND A MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE GOVERNOR WHO IS PROPOSING GETTING RID OF ONEF R O SPECIAL DISTRIS.CT ECIALSP DISTRICT STRIPPING AWAY DISNEY’S POWER OF SELF-GOVERNMENT?>> THAT WAS THE GOVERNOR’S MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT THIS MORNING. YOU SEE TH EATNTRANCE TO DISNEY BEHIND ME? WELL, WHERE’I’M STANDING IS THE LINE THAT SEPARATES ORANGE COUNTY FROM THE REEDY CREEK IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT. TH’A’S THE SPECIAL DISTRICT FOR DISNEY WHERE IT CAN ACT AS ITS OWN GOVERNMENT. IN 1967,AL WT DISNEY CONVIEDNC FLORIDA’S GOVERNOR AND STATE LEGISLATURE TO ESTABLISH AN INDENDENPET GOVERNMENT OTHEN PROPERTY THAT WOULD EVENTUALLY BECOME DISNEY RLWO BUT NOW, DISNEY’S INDEPENDENCE IS UNDER THE MICROSCOPIN THEE WAKE OF THE COMPANY DENOUNCING FLORIDA’S NEW LAW. THE PARENTAL RIGHTS IN EDUCAONTI , ALSO CALLED THE DON’T SAY GAY LAW BY CRITICS. EARLIER THIS MONTH, LAWMAKERS STARTED CONSIDERING POSSIBLE STRIPPING DISNEY’S AUTONOMY. AND THE GOVERNOR SAID HE SUPPORTS THEIR REVIEW. TODAY, HE’S MAKING GOOD ON THAT SHOW OF SUPPORT. GOVERNOR DESANTIS I AM : ANNOUNCING TODAY THAT WERE A EXPANDING THE CALL OF WHAT THEY ARE GOING TO BE CONSIDERING THIS WE.EK AND SO YES, THEY WILL BE CONSIDERING THE CONGREIOSSNAL MAP, BUT THEY ALSO WILL BE CONSIDERING TERMINATION OF ALL SPECIAL DISTRICTS THAT WERE ENACTED IN FLORIDA PRIOR TO 1968 AND THAT INCLUDES THE REEDY CREEK IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT. >> I REACHED OUT TO THE REEDY CREEK AND DISNEY.
Gov. DeSantis says lawmakers will consider stripping Disney of self-government power
Updated: 12:55 PM EDT Apr 19, 2022
Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference Tuesday morning in The Villages.The governor began by announcing that lawmakers will consider terminating Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District during the special session this week.DeSantis issued a proclamation calling for the special session to be expanded to include consideration of terminating all special districts enacted in Florida prior to 1968.Years before Cinderella Castle opened, Walt Disney himself proposed to state lawmakers that Disney World should have governing authority over the land. Months after his death in December 1966, the governor and legislature in 1967 granted the company, under the direction of Walt’s brother Roy, the establishment of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, to govern property that would eventually become Disney World.Under Florida law, landowners of Reedy Creek, like Disney, can regulate their own water, power and emergency services. DeSantis said their power doesn’t end there.“I was shocked to see some of the stuff that’s in there. They can do their own nuclear power plant. Is there any other private company in the state that can just build a nuclear power plant on their own?” he said. “They’re able to do certain things that nobody else is able to do. So I think they’re right to be looking at this and reevaluating and having an even playing field for everybody, I think is much better than basically to allow one company to be a law onto itself.”Disney’s independence has been under the microscope in the wake of the company denouncing Florida’s new “Parental Rights in Education” law, or the “Don’t Say Gay” law.In a tweet, state Rep. Spencer Roach, who represents the North Fort Myers area, wrote that lawmakers have already met twice to talk about repealing the Reedy Creek Improvement Act.”If Disney wants to embrace ‘woke’ ideology, it seems fitting that they should be regulated by Orange County,” Roach said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference Tuesday morning in The Villages.
The governor began by announcing that lawmakers will consider terminating Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District during the special session this week.
DeSantis issued a proclamation calling for the special session to be expanded to include consideration of terminating all special districts enacted in Florida prior to 1968.
Years before Cinderella Castle opened, Walt Disney himself proposed to state lawmakers that Disney World should have governing authority over the land. Months after his death in December 1966, the governor and legislature in 1967 granted the company, under the direction of Walt’s brother Roy, the establishment of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, to govern property that would eventually become Disney World.
Under Florida law, landowners of Reedy Creek, like Disney, can regulate their own water, power and emergency services. DeSantis said their power doesn’t end there.
“I was shocked to see some of the stuff that’s in there. They can do their own nuclear power plant. Is there any other private company in the state that can just build a nuclear power plant on their own?” he said. “They’re able to do certain things that nobody else is able to do. So I think they’re right to be looking at this and reevaluating and having an even playing field for everybody, I think is much better than basically to allow one company to be a law onto itself.”
Disney’s independence has been under the microscope in the wake of the company denouncing Florida’s new “Parental Rights in Education” law, or the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
In a tweet, state Rep. Spencer Roach, who represents the North Fort Myers area, wrote that lawmakers have already met twice to talk about repealing the Reedy Creek Improvement Act.
“If Disney wants to embrace ‘woke’ ideology, it seems fitting that they should be regulated by Orange County,” Roach said.
