A bill being considered by the Florida Legislature would revamp Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District to operate more like other special districts around the state rather than a corporate-run entity.
The legislation, which is authored by Rep. Fred Hawkins (R-Orlando), was introduced during a special legislative session this week. The bill, HB 9, would rename the Reedy Creek district the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District and require that its five-member board be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate.
Since 1967, the board has been under the control of Walt Disney World Corp., which owns practically all of the privately held land in the district. According to a legislative analysis of the bill, the Reedy Creek district has a bond debt of just under $1.2 billion.
Under HB 9, the new district would retain responsibility for Reedy Creek’s debts, meaning the debt burden would not be placed on the backs of Orlando-area taxpayers. And the district would keep its powers related to planning, zoning, and building and safety codes, according to the provisions of HB 9.
“The district will operate more like the other special districts that efficiently provide services across Florida, and (the bill) updates an over-50-year-old law that was outdated and overbroad,” David Ramba, executive director of the Florida Association of Special Districts, told the Florida Record in an email.
The bill would streamline the operations of the district and narrow its authority, according to Ramba. Gov. Ron DeSantis had sought to eliminate the special district in the wake of Disney officials criticizing a new law putting restrictions on gender-identity instruction in public schools.
“This bill ensures that the bonds associated with the district are paid by district taxpayers, which is primarily Disney corporate property, and guaranteed by those same properties and will not be the responsibilities of the general taxpayers of Orange and Osceola County,” Ramba said.
Others, however, have criticized the bill as not going far enough.
“... Basically Woke Disney gets to keep its nearly tax-free, regulation-free status – but with a different board,” a former Republican legislator, Anthony Sabatini, said in a Twitter post. “And now they are not allowed to have an airport. What a massive capitulation this is. HUGE win for Woke Disney. BIG loss for conservatives.”