Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has requested an investigation into The Walt Disney Co. regarding its control of the outer limits of Orange and Osceola counties.
The issue is centered on the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which has governed the land around Disney World for more than 50 years, overseen by a board of Disney senior executives.
However, DeSantis signed a law in February that dissolved the district and established a new board, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, to replace it.
Recently, DeSantis’ new board accused the Reedy Creek board members of signing a previous agreement with Disney, giving the company complete decision-making power over the theme park grounds while undermining the powers of the new board.
DeSantis says the agreement includes a clause dating back to 1692 that has “legal infirmities.”
As a result, DeSantis has called on the state’s inspector general to investigate whether Disney’s actions to retain control of the area are legal and if any of its executives were involved in the alleged plot.
Disney CEO Bob Iger characterized DeSantis’ actions as “retaliatory,” “anti-business,” and “anti-Florida.”
Iger emphasized that Disney has over 75,000 employees in the state and brings in roughly 50 million visitors to Florida each year.
He also mentioned that Disney intends to invest over $17 billion in Walt Disney World in the next ten years, creating approximately 13,000 jobs and generating more taxes for Florida.
Iger said, “Our point on this is that any action that supports those efforts simply to retaliate for a position the company took sounds not just anti-business, but it sounds anti-Florida. And I’ll just leave it at that.”
Iger was referring to the company’s opposition to Florida’s HB 1557, which prohibits the teaching of sexualized ideologies to young children.
