Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation Monday effectively giving him control of Walt Disney Co.’s special municipal district, part of a strategy fueling his widely expected 2024 White House bid.
(Bloomberg) — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation Monday effectively giving him control of Walt Disney Co.’s special municipal district, part of a strategy fueling his widely expected 2024 White House bid.
The law, introduced in a special legislative session, gives DeSantis the power to appoint all five board members of the formerly named Reedy Creek Improvement District, pending state senate approval. The legislation also removes some of the district’s sweeping powers but keeps in place its obligation to pay about $1 billion of outstanding bonds.
The new board will “make sure the debt is retired properly, maybe even accelerating retiring the debt,” DeSantis said in a press conference in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, part of the 38.5 square miles (99.7 square kilometers) of land that houses Disney’s Florida theme parks.
“It seems to me a contradiction to say that Disney, as a corporation is responsible for the debt, and than proposing some form of acceleration,” said Eric Kazatsky, senior US municipals strategist for Bloomberg Intelligence. Without the option of refundings, “this would perhaps leave cash defeasance, which would be a pure business decision on Disney’s part and not really an acceleration for bondholders,” he said.
DeSantis, 44, said he would like to see the special district dissolved altogether at some point as long as there’s “no burden to taxpayers.”
The district was also renamed by the law and will now be called the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
DeSantis announced the makeup of the new five-person governing board that is expected to meet for the first time next week. The new chair will be Martin Garcia, a Tampa-based businessman, he said.
DeSantis pushed for the new board structure after a dispute last year between Disney and the governor over the company’s critique of a law he supported that restricted discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools.
“We want our kids to be able to enjoy entertainment without having an agenda imposed on them,” DeSantis said.
His feud against Disney is part of a larger strategy to bolster his national presence ahead of an expected 2024 presidential bid, which DeSantis hasn’t yet announced. He’s launching a book this week and met with 150 donors in Palm Beach over the weekend, while targeting what he’s ridiculed as a so-called woke agenda supporting environmental, social and governance principals.
(Updates with analyst comment in fourth paragraph)
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