On Thursday, Florida the law that passed last week, eliminating special districts in Florida created before the ratification of Florida’s constitution in 1968, specifically Disney’s , according to WESH Channel 2 in Orlando.
spoke aboutAccording to WESH, “the clock is ticking for Disney.” Though the new law that dissolves the doesn’t go into effect until next summer, it only gives Disney a little more than 13 months to ready itself for the dissolution of the district.
During a town hall meeting in Orlando with FOX News, Governor DeSantis said that Disney will have to live under the same laws as every other Florida entity.
“It just simply ends with [Disney] being treated the same as every other company in Florida,” said DeSantis. “They’re going to follow laws. They’re not going to have their own government. They’re going to pay their debts, pay their taxes.”
The Florida governor made no attempt to misrepresent the reasons for the the elimination comes in response to Disney’s public stance on Florida’s . in Education law dissolution; it was clear that
Initially, told employees at The that Disney would not be taking a public stance for or against House Bill 1557.
“As we have seen time and again, corporate statements do very little to change outcomes or minds,” Chapek wrote to employees. “Instead, they are often weaponized by one side or the other to further divide and inflame. Simply put, they can be counterproductive and undermine more effective ways to achieve change.”
But only days later, in response to growing criticism of the embattled Disney CEO and growing pressure for him to speak out against the bill, Chapek told employees of the that “it is clear that this is not just an issue about a bill in Florida, but instead yet another challenge to basic human rights,” telling them “you needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down. I am sorry.”
But Governor DeSantis says Disney’s pledge to see the repealed is actually an attack on Florida parents, saying he isn’t comfortable with such an entity having in Education bill in Florida.
“I am not comfortable having one company with their own government and when that company has pledged itself to attacking the parents in my state,” he said. “When that company has very high up people talking about injecting pansexualism into programing for young kids, it’s wrong. would not want that.”
But DeSantis also had very positive things to say about the good work that Disney has done, even calling it their “mission.”
“And so get back to the mission,” he implored. “Do what you did great. That’s why people love the company, and you’ve lost your way. Maybe this will be the wake-up call that they need to get back on track.”
Despite recent reports about the detriment the dissolution will cause for Florida residents in , DeSantis says it’s just not true.
“They are ,” DeSantis explained. “It’s fiction. They are paying money to run their operations; they will continue paying money to run their operations, and that will be true if the state is in charge of a district, if it’s dissolved to the locals, it doesn’t matter. That is going to continue to happen.”