What will happen with the oversight board after Disney blocked it?
The Disney World Service Workers’ Minimum Wage – A “Disney World” Wins the Lottery: Reply to Disney Overturning a New Florida Gay and Lesbian Law
On paper, the new board would supervise municipal services and development for the land around Disney World. The board would serve as a moral arbiter for a company that lost it’s way.
“All agreements signed between Disney and the District were appropriate, and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida’s Government in the Sunshine law,” the company said.
Disney is angry about a Florida law that prohibits the instruction of homosexuality and gender identity through third grade and only in an age appropriate manner in older grades. In March of last year, as outrage against the legislation spread nationwide, Disney released a statement vowing to help get the law repealed or struck down by the courts.
Yet, DeSantis on Thursday continued to claim victory over Disney in a dispute that first began last year when the company vowed to help overturn a new law that limited the instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. The company’s longstanding power to tax, borrow and build infrastructure in the Reedy Creek Improvement District will be stripped by the new administration.
In a quiet move that’s enchanting the internet, the former Reedy Creek Development board signed its power back to Disney before leaving office, a binding declaration that doesn’t expire until England’s monarchy dies out.
“We’re going to have to correct it,” board member Brian Aungst said. “It’s a subversion of the will of the voters and the Legislature and the governor. It completely circumvents the authority of this board.
The agreements signed between Disney and the District were approved in open forums and in accordance with Florida’s Government in theSunshine law.
The Disney World service workers are voting on whether to accept a union contract offer that will increase the minimum wage to $18 an hour by year end.
The agreement covers around 45,000 service workers at the Disney theme park resort, including costumed performers who perform as Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters, bus drivers, culinary workers, lifeguards, theatrical workers and hotel housekeepers.
If the five-year contract is approved, workers could be seeing their hourly wage go from $5.50 to $8.60 an hour.
The Disney World Special Taxing District and the DeSantis/Trump Out-of-The-Cosm Expansion During the Coca-Cola Collapse
The new board handpicked by the Republican governor to oversee Disney’s special taxing district said Wednesday it is considering legal action over a multi-decade agreement reached between the entertainment giant and the outgoing board in the days before the state’s hostile takeover last month.
“The lack of consideration, the delegation of legislative authority to a private corporation, restriction of the Board’s ability to make legislative decisions, and giving away public rights without compensation for a private purpose, among other issues, warrant the new Board’s actions and direction to evaluate these overreaching documents and determine how best the new Board can protect the public’s interest in compliance with Florida Law,” the statement from Fishback Dominick LLP, Cooper & Kirk PLLC, Lawson Huck Gonzalez PLLC, Waugh Grant PLLC and Nardella & Nardella PLLC said.
The board was stacked with political allies, including a well-known GOP donor, a former pastor and the wife of the new chairman of the Republican Party of Florida.
At last month’s signing ceremony for the bill that gave him control of Reedy Creek’s board, DeSantis declared, “The corporate kingdom finally comes to an end.”
Another provision prevents the new board from using any of its “fanciful characters” until “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England,” according to a copy of the deal included in the February 8 meeting packet.
The stealth move by Disney prompted allies of DeSantis’ chief political rival, former President Donald Trump, to suggest the governor had been out-maneuvered.
“President Trump wrote ‘Art of the Deal’ and brokered Middle East peace,” said Taylor Budowich, spokesman for the Trump-aligned Make America Great Again PAC. “Ron DeSantis just got out-negotiated by Mickey Mouse.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Walt Disney World and a special tax district are once again making headlines, but this time, it’s with a new cast member: England’s King Charles III.
The five DeSantis allies who were pledged to take over in one of Florida’s largest employers don’t have the ability to do much until they take legal action.
In a move widely seen as retaliation, the governor signed a bill that took control of a special tax zone around Disney World. The Reedy Creek Development District has allowed Disney to operate and expand with a lot of autonomy for the last 50 years.
The governor gave it a new name, the Central FLORIDA Tourism Oversight District, and appointed five of his allies to the board, including a prominent parents’ rights activist and a Christian nationalist who donated $50,000 to his campaign.
The Disney Board of Supervisors vs. Republican LPLP: The Restrictive Covenant Clause, and its Register with the Orange County Comptroller
The board was supposed to have a meeting on Wednesday, but it found out it might not be able to carry out the agenda.
The Declaration of Restrictions on the Property allows Disney to have final say on any alterations to the property without conditions or delays and requires the board to inform Disney of plans for such alterations without delays.
Basically, the board loses “the majority of its ability to do anything beyond maintain the roads and maintain basic infrastructure,” as board member Ron Peri put it, according to local news outlet Click Orlando.
“Rule Against Perpetuities” is what the agreement was written using, which states that a policy will continue until after a person dies.
Savvy social media users also pointed out that the tactic resembled one that Republicans have used following recent election losses. In places like Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin, GOP-led legislatures overhauled state election laws, shoring up their party power before handing the reins over to incoming Democratic majorities.
As far as power moves go, this one does appear to be above board. A detailed note about the Restrictive Covenant clause was recorded in the Feb. 8 Reedy Creek agenda and meeting minutes. A day later, the agreement was registered with the Orange County Comptroller.
All of those documents were, and still are, available online, no public records request needed. The old board’s meeting was held on February 8. (There were no public comments on the measure, which the board unanimously approved.)
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/30/1167042594/disney-desantis-board-reedy-creek-charles
The Orlando Sentinel: A Never-Breaking Alarm about the DeSantis Takeover of FLRW News in December 2004
And, yet, no one seemed to notice — or if they did, they didn’t raise an alarm. Not the new board, not the governor, not the legislators or the reporters actively monitoring developments (guilty).
When news outlets, including NPR, asked Disney for comment about the various steps of DeSantis’s takeover throughout February, the company played it straight-faced, saying it wouldn’t fight the takeover.
Is it possible that he could pass a new law? Maybe, but any law that more broadly takes action against restrictive covenants or special districts could have wider-reaching consequences that DeSantis may want to avoid.
One of the governor’s earlier plans to dissolve all special tax districts in the state fell apart after analysts pointed out that doing so might ultimately raise taxes for the counties next to Reedy Creek, frustrating local residents.
Cooper & Kirk was hired by the board to look into the contract. DeSantis has paid millions to the boutique Washington, D.C., firm to help defend several controversial policies, according to reporting from the Orlando Sentinel.
NPR contacted members of the board but did not receive a response by the time of publication. One of the most prominent members of the board said they wouldn’t back down and wouldn’t stand for this.
Fla. Gov. DeSantis and the Florida House of Representatives: a close look at a long-term planck-size improvement
The governor told the crowd there was a lot of back-and-forth, but he wasn’t sure if they had seen anything yet. “There’s more to come in that regard.”
“I don’t know that it’s the appropriate use of shareholder resources to be shilling for gender ideology in kindergarten, but nevertheless, that’s what they decided to do,” DeSantis said.
“They basically got everything they wanted for the many decades they’ve been operating in Florida – until now, because now there’s a new sheriff in town,” DeSantis said at Thursday’s event.
Despite his upbeat take on the latest developments, DeSantis on Thursday spoke less about his battle with Disney than he has in previous speeches on his recent book tour. The saga typically occupies a prominent space in his remarks – often with a lengthy tale about his Disney World wedding – and it’s the subject of an entire chapter of his new book.
On Thursday, the attorneys general of Florida sent a records request regarding the February 8 vote to the district and the former board members. In a letter to the former board members, Moody’s office warned of “civil and criminal penalties” for not turning over any responsive records.
