LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The ongoing power struggle between Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration and Disney World is no secret, but how did the state get here?
Back in 1967, HB 486 ensured Walt Disney World was its own governing body. Then in April of last year, DeSantis signed a bill to dissolve Reedy Creek as a self governing entity.
Fast forward to this year and the DeSantis administration established a new state appointed oversight board, and then Disney put in last minute wording to undermine the state appointed board’s power. Today, the board announced measures to win that control back.
"These purported contracts are therefore null and void for that reason alone. Substantively, the agreements are unconstitutional," Ron Peri, chairman for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, said.
The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District and their attorneys put things in no uncertain terms when it comes to what they, call 11th hour wording, to undermine the state appointed board’s authority.
"I'd like to briefly explain why Disney's illegal agreements are detrimental to the public good, and to the interests of the citizens of Florida" board member Martin Garcia said. "Our board wanted to work with Disney, but Disney decided they didn’t want to work with us. It was Disney’s way or the highway."
In response, he had a warning about what the DeSantis-appointed supervisors who now oversee Disney World’s vast Florida holdings might try to achieve in an evolving showdown between the governor and Disney: “Nothing is off the table at this point.”
10 Tampa Bay political expert Lars Hafner says the DeSantis administration picked the wrong fight if the governor has presidential aspirations.
"He picked the wrong target is what I'm saying," Hafner said. "The fact is, is he might have taken on some other entity that would have created more of a groundswell of support, but taking on Disney does not do anything for him."
The DeSantis administration has long contended Disney has too much power for a single corporation.
"You're not going to have Disney have its own government in Central Florida, they're going to live under the same laws as everybody else pay their fair share of taxes and honor the debts that they've accumulated over the years," DeSantis said in a press conference earlier this month.
Hafner contends that the move is in response to social issues, not a matter of public interest.
"First lesson in politics, do not try to out-Trump Trump. As he starts to do this, and which he's doing right now, he's going to lose that battle," he added.
By vocally nullifying the current agreement, the state has made steps forward in their quest to regain control of a district that has been self governed for close to 60 years.
DeSantis and state lawmakers ratcheted up the pressure on Disney on Monday by proposing upcoming legislation that would require state inspections of Disney rides, which would be an unprecedented move since Florida's largest theme park operators have been able to conduct their own inspections. The lawmakers also plan to consider legislation that would revoke the agreements between the previous board supervisors and Disney.
Republican state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia said he had a message for Disney: “You are not going to win this fight. This governor is.”
Disney has said all agreements made with the previous board were legal and approved in a public forum.
Disney CEO Bob Iger earlier this month said that any actions against the company that threaten jobs or expansion at its Florida resort was not only “anti-business" but "anti-Florida.”