Florida lawmakers have passed a bill giving control of Disney’s special tax district in central Florida to a Senate-approved board, handing a victory to Gov. Ron DeSantis who pushed for the measure to make the district more accountable to voters.
Legislators gave final approval on Feb. 10 to a bill authorizing DeSantis to appoint five supervisors to run the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a quasi-government entity that oversees the 25,000 acres surrounding the Walt Disney World resort.
“Florida is … beginning a new era of accountability and transparency,” said DeSantis’ spokesperson Bryan Griffin.
Griffin said that the prior arrangement—in which a legislative decision in the 1960s gave Disney sole control over the district—was insufficiently accountable to Florida voters….