Big Gov Ron is at it again The measure renames Reedy Creek as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. Outstanding debt, contracts and tax collection would not be affected, according to the bill, backing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ statements that Orange and Osceola counties would not be responsible for Reedy Creek’s $1 billion debt. The 189-page bill also changes how the five members of the district’s Board of Supervisors are selected. The governor would appoint those members subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate. Disney’s Reedy Creek gets new name, DeSantis appointees under bill
And Disney's lawyers will fight this IF they can't offload their debt to Orange and Osceola county. Disney's attorneys are better than anything that the state brings to the table, so once again Florida taxpayers will be on the hook for his performative nonsense.
That district has residents who are able to select its board members. This would mean that those residents can no longer select their representatives and that the representatives are picked by the governor. I'm sure there will be a lawsuit if this happens. Once again Florida will hire some high prices lawyers from DC paid for by tax payers
I don't know about the legalities. The debt was the obvious hook. The Counterparties may see this as violating covenants, especially of longterm debts, and especially if there are bond issuances that are backstopped by the larger company. I suspect there are a few though i don't know. But beyond that, think state political appointees essentially running the "World", because that is what it really means. So unwise, even if there is never abuse. Hard to see how public records issues will be addressed. Just a lot of potential problems. Maybe they have already thought about a lot of these issues and try to address them. But I feel certain that they can never think through them all or address them all in a way that we won't look back at this as incredibly unwise, against the interests of the state of Florida. Not that anyone seems to care.
Also would be curious if this could be considered a regulatory taking. I doubt Disney would take that step for a political reasons, but they could, at least under some of the cellular precedents. And there's been a lot of shareholder challenges to the company as a whole, trying to challenge some of the streaming expenditures and replace the board. I wonder if they can use this as a cudgel. There have been real fights, including some of those that led to Chapek being asked to come over how best to leverage The Parks for contributions to some of the other parts of the company. It would be interesting to see how it would play out in shareholder derivative litigation if you have dissenting shareholders saying that the parks could be produce more profits while the overall company doesn't have control any longer of this park. So many stupid possibilities, all jeopardize just because of the desire to foment hatred of gay people
From what I understand, some of the Reedy Creek employees that originally thought this was a good idea (firefighters, EMTs) are rethinking their position. If it's a change in name only, that's one thing but if it's substantive than Disney can revoke some of those privileges like park admission among other perks available to Disney employees.
It's a cluster, to be sure. I'm not praising Disney, far from it. This may be one of the few areas their "management" (as opposed to IP), comes out sympathetic. But in this case, their IP caused the attack on management. Let's face it - this was only tangentially about the public statement of support for gay employees. Religious conservatives have been angry at Disney content for decades. Even if there is no intent to play with content currently, the Reedy Creek "commissioners" will get pressure from some of their base to use the power over the district to dictate content and resolve grievances. Bring back Splash Mountain, with Uncle Remus made more prominent.
Again, I think (hope) that this more bluster than substance. Seems foolish to tangle with the state's largest employer and number one tourist destination in the world. Plus, Disney hands out a whole lotta campaign cash to the legislature.
I can't believe the party of small government and limited overreach would be involved in such a power grab.
And this is a way to extort even more money. Well revisit this is two years, they say. Think about the position that puts Disney execs in. You cannot presume this crew won't do something just because it's stupid or wrong, if they need to for power
I think that Disney may take a more long term view, they can outlast DeSantis. What's to keep them from pushing their infrastructure burden to Orange and Osceola?
They may, but they have a lot of short-term financial challenges after the pandemic and due to internal shareholder issues. Plus, they're dealing with a very dangerous zealous political movement that is not necessarily going to be limited by rationality.
more the desire to have the final say and punish those who would question DeS. that underlying theme of using the office and the gubmnt to punish enemies runs much deeper than don't say gay
Agreed. But the "base" may not be satisfied by symbolic punishment. I suspect they will eventually demand that Disney "clean up" its IP on race and gender. I know that sounds crazy, but once these types get a taste of blood, you can't control them. Look at the legislation and regulation in Florida on race and gender.
Agree, so let’s see how it plays out. If desantis is the big govt monster you guys say he is, then we’ll find out if big money doners back off.
so now maga is for gov over-site, intervention and regulation? desantis (gov) appointed board... “Central Florida Tourism Oversight Distric