Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, has proposed constructing a penitentiary near Disney’s Florida theme park. He smiled as he threatened to take new measures to assert state control over the special district that manages the media giant’s property.
Since last year, when Disney criticized a Florida law that restricts gender and sexuality education, the Republican has been in conflict with the company.
The dispute has brought the potential presidential candidate to the national spotlight.
Though Mr. DeSantis has not declared his intention to run for president in 2024, he has raised his profile by promising to combat what he calls a “woke” liberal agenda in education and corporate America.
Disney spoke out against the state’s Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by critics, which prohibits education about sexual orientation and gender identity for students under the age of nine.
State legislators voted to restructure the special district that was established more than 50 years ago to supervise development at Walt Disney World, giving the governor the authority to appoint members of the district’s governing board instead of the district’s landowners.
Since then, however, the new board has stated that Disney circumvented its authority with a last-minute deal that grants the corporation near-total control over development in the district until “21 years after the death of the last surviving descendant of King Charles III, King of England.”
Mr. DeSantis stated on Monday that there were a “plethora” of legal issues with that transaction and that the board would declare it invalid at a meeting this week.
State legislators are also preparing new legislation to strip Disney of additional privileges, he said, describing the state’s approach as a “one-two punch.”
One of the proposals is to exclude amusement park attractions in special districts, such as Disney’s, from an exemption from state safety inspections currently granted to amusement parks.
Ron DeSantis stated that he anticipated the district, under its new governing board, to investigate development on land in the district that is not owned by Disney, including a state park, additional amusement rides, or a prison.
“Who can say? I simply believe that the possibilities are limitless,” he said with a broad grin.
Mr. DeSantis has stated that Disney’s actions are an attempt to defy the will of Floridians and state legislators, describing it as a battle over whether corporations should receive special treatment under state law.
Disney declined to comment on the matter.
Bob Iger, the chief executive officer of Disney, has stated that the company has the right to take a public stance and that Mr. DeSantis’s stance is “anti-business” and “anti-Florida.”
He has charged the governor with attempting to “punish a company for exercising a constitutional right.”
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