Ron DeSantis Signs Bill Nullifying Disney Development Agreements
After a year of trying to outmaneuver each other, Walt Disney Co. is suing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. WSJ’s Arian Campo-Flores explains what’s behind the lawsuit. Photo Composition: Rachel Rogers By Arian Campo-Flores Updated May 5, 2023 2:47 pm ET Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation nullifying agreements Co. struck that allowed the company to retain some control over future development in the district covering its Orlando-area theme parks. The move opens another front in the Republican governor’s yearlong battl
After a year of trying to outmaneuver each other, Walt Disney Co. is suing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. WSJ’s Arian Campo-Flores explains what’s behind the lawsuit. Photo Composition: Rachel Rogers
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation nullifying agreements Co. struck that allowed the company to retain some control over future development in the district covering its Orlando-area theme parks.
The move opens another front in the Republican governor’s yearlong battle with the entertainment giant. It is the second effort aimed at invalidating the agreements, after a board that oversees the district—whose new members were named by the governor—last week declared the accords null and void.
The dispute centers on development approvals Disney struck in February with a previous board, which it had effectively controlled, just before the current one was due to take over in March. Those agreements locked in zoning, infrastructure and air-rights approvals that Disney might need if it chooses to expand its Walt Disney World Resort.
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Mr. DeSantis assailed the maneuver as a subversion of the will of voters and the Florida legislature, and vowed to respond. First came last week’s decision by his handpicked board to find the agreements had no legal effect.
Now, the bill signed by Mr. DeSantis creates a new, legislative avenue to challenge the agreements. The measure, which the Republican-led legislature passed largely along party lines, precludes the district housing Disney’s theme parks from complying with the agreements.
It could further thrust the dispute into the realm of the courts. Immediately after the board declared the agreements void last week, Disney filed a federal lawsuit against Mr. DeSantis, the five board members and other officials, seeking to block that declaration and secure a court finding that the agreements were valid. The legislation Mr. DeSantis signed Friday could trigger additional legal action by Disney.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’s recent move opens another front in the Republican governor’s yearlong battle with Disney.
Photo: Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat/Associated Press
The company’s lawsuit accused the governor of waging a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” against Disney for its opposition to a law passed last year with Mr. DeSantis’s backing that barred classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in early elementary-school years. Opponents referred to the law as “Don’t Say Gay.”
The board responded earlier this week by suing Disney in state court, accusing the company of cementing a “backroom deal” in reaching the agreements with the previous board, and tying the hands of the new board.
Write to Arian Campo-Flores at [email protected]
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