The Florida House passed a bill Thursday revoking the Walt Disney Company’s autonomous governmental status, sending the legislation to Governor Ron DeSantis.
The House voted 68-38 in favor of the bill, a day after the state Senate voted 23-16 in approval.
The bill would dissolve the Reedy Creek Improvement District near Orlando, a zone that allows Disney to act as a self-governing body and establish its own regulations, building codes, and other municipal services. Disney receives tax exemptions under the arrangement.
The initiative by the Florida government to revoke the district’s autonomous status comes after Disney criticized the state’s bill barring lessons on gender identity for students in kindergarten through third grade. Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced in March that the company would suspend political donations in Florida over the bill.
“You have a company like Disney, who takes this special power and privileges that have been granted to them by the people and by the taxpayers,” Florida House speaker Chris Sprowls told National Review on Wednesday. “To use that power and privilege to mislead the public, on laws that are being discussed and passed in the legislature is wildly inappropriate.”
The bill to revoke Disney’s autonomous status came after DeSantis called on the legislature to consider the measure on Tuesday.
“Disney and other woke corporations won’t get away with peddling their unchecked pressure campaigns any longer,” DeSantis said in a fundraising email on Wednesday. “If we want to keep the Democrat machine and their corporate lapdogs accountable, we have to stand together now.”