A local governing board appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday passed a resolution to void an agreement that allowed Walt Disney World to maintain control over much of its business operations amid an ongoing power struggle with the governor.
“Disney was openly and legally granted a unique and special privilege, that privilege of running its own local government,” Alan Lawson, a former Florida Supreme Court justice whose firm was hired by the DeSantis-appointed board, said during the board meeting. “That era is ending.”
The unanimous vote of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District is the latest step in a yearlong fight between the governor and Walt Disney World after the entertainment giant issued a statement in March 2022 opposing DeSantis-backed legislation that aimed to ban the discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms up to third grade.
After that statement was issued, DeSantis proposed ending the company’s long-held power of self-governance. Ultimately, the Republican-dominated legislature passed a bill allowing, among other things, the governor to appoint a new board.
On its way out, the old board passed a little-noticed agreement that would have kept much of the power of self-governance with Walt Disney World, not the new board.
That move angered DeSantis and reignited his fight with one of the state’s biggest employers, and is central to the current political and legal fight.
