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FL Senate Bows To DeSantis, Votes To Dissolve Disney District

One Republican said about DeSantis pushing the bill, “This is about staying on Fox. This is about extending the media life of this storyline. This is gold for him.”

Florida's state Senate voted yesterday to dissolve the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a 1967 deal between the state and the Walt Disney that allows Disney to control most of what goes on at the theme park and the surrounding land. The legislation goes to a final state house vote today. Via the Washington Post:

DeSantis (R) praised the effort, telling potential donors in a fundraising email, “I was elected to put the people of Florida first, and I will not allow a woke corporation based in California to run our state.”

"Woke corporation." My God, Republican voters are Pavlov's dogs.

Currently, Disney is responsible for everything including road maintenance, building inspections, 911 emergency calls and sewage treatment at the theme park, which straddles two counties and covers 40 square miles.

“Orange County is going to be stuck with $164 million or more per year in expenses with no revenue,” Orange County tax collector Scott Randolph said. “So they’re going to have to raise property taxes. This is a huge tax increase on the citizens of Orange County that they’ll have to pay every single year.”

That's an estimated raise of $2,200 a year for local taxpayers.

The unraveling of Reedy Creek would not begin until June 2023.

“This leaves the sword of Damocles over Disney’s head for 13 months. It shuts them up,” Florida state Sen. Jeff Brandes (R) said. “Nobody actually thinks this is going to happen. The cost to the state would be astronomical, potentially billions of dollars.”

Brandes was the lone Republican to vote against the bill, joining every Democrat in the Senate. He said DeSantis, who is up for reelection this year and is a potential presidential candidate in 2024, is relishing the feud.

“This isn’t even really about Disney,” Brandes said. “This is about staying on Fox. This is about extending the media life of this storyline. This is gold for him.”

No, it really is about Disney!

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