The amendment that aims to void Disney’s agreement with the former board of the Reedy Creek Improvement District has cleared the Florida Senate Rules and House State Affairs committee along party lines, and is now headed to both chambers for final passage.
What’s Happening:
- According to the Orlando Sentinel, the amendment filed by Florida State Senator Blaise Ingoglia, that would empower the new board appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis to void the agreement Disney made with the outgoing Reedy Creek Improvement District Board before it was replaced with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, has passed the Florida Senate Rules and House State Affairs committee.
- The bill now heads to the Florida House and Senate where it will likely pass.
- The Senate amendment doesn’t mention the new board appointed by DeSantis, Walt Disney World, or Reedy Creek, but Ingoglia admitted its target after being asked how many special districts would be affected.
- The bill reportedly had bipartisan support prior to passage, but some were concerned with the precedent that this may set.
- “I think Reedy Creek operated within the law and what we’re doing is not the way we should govern,” Sen. Shevrin Jones said. “It is not the precedent we should set because it’s just bad governing.”
- Democrats in the House committee questioned the constitutionality of targeting a single entity and using legislation to void contracts.
- At a meeting earlier today, lawyers for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District said that Disney’s agreement with the former Reedy Creek board “violated state law.”