Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that Florida lawmakers are considering the termination of Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District.
“Governor DeSantis’ position is that all businesses in Florida should be able to compete on a fair playing field, without company-specific carve-outs or special favors from government,” Press Secretary Christina Pushaw told The Daily Wire on Tuesday, regarding the governor’s proclamation.
The move reminds Disney that the company is a “guest” in Florida, according to Florida state Rep. Randy Fine. (Disclosure: The Daily Wire has announced plans for children’s entertainment content.)
Fine said Tuesday that DeSantis’s expansion of the special session allows him to file HB3C, eliminating “a 50 yr-old special statute that makes Disney to exempt from laws faced by regular Floridians” — allowing Disney to enjoy its own zoning privileges.
BREAKING: Disney is a guest in Florida. Today, we remind them. @GovDeSantis just expanded the Special Session so I could file HB3C which eliminates Reedy Creek Improvement District, a 50 yr-old special statute that makes Disney to exempt from laws faced by regular Floridians.
— Rep. Randy Fine (@VoteRandyFine) April 19, 2022
“The Florida legislature is meeting this week to consider the congressional reapportionment plan for Florida for the next 10 years, and that is what they have been called upon to do,” DeSantis said Tuesday at a press conference, “but I am announcing today that we are expanding the call of what they are going to be considering this week.”
“And so yes, they will be considering the congressional 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,” he said.
NEW: @GovRonDeSantis says that this week, Florida lawmakers will officially consider the termination of Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District. https://t.co/mZ7OO7JBAn
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) April 19, 2022
The move comes as DeSantis and Disney spar over Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” law, which bans classroom instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation for small children.
The law has been wildly misrepresented as “Don’t Say Gay” legislation by critics who most notably have taken issue with HB 1557’s statement that “classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
“Florida’s HB 1557, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed into law”…
It turns out that @Disney doesn’t get to write the law. https://t.co/UqibXq1Ibk
— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) April 19, 2022
Students in kindergarten are typically five years old, while third graders generally are eight or nine years old.
Nowhere in the legislation is the word “gay” mentioned, though the word “parent” is mentioned 32 times and the word “parental” is mentioned eight times. The legislation heavily focuses on parental notification and parental awareness of what children are being taught or exposed to in school.
Disney joined progressive activists in repeatedly condemning the legislation.
“We remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that,” a Disney spokesman told The Daily Wire in March.
Shortly afterward, Manhattan Institute senior fellow Chris Rufo released several videos purportedly from a recent “all-hands” Zoom staff meeting in which a Disney executive producer discussed implementing her “not-at-all secret gay agenda” in a children’s show.
Many parents who spoke with The Daily Wire cited Disney’s increasingly woke stances as reasons why they are cancelling trips to Disney and Disney+ subscriptions.
“Disney has been a part of our family,” one mother said. “This is a hard transition. It’s like giving up one of your favorite things, like giving up coffee. We enjoyed it, but we have to look at the big picture here.”