The Florida legislature has voted to end Disney’s special taxing district and has sent the bill to the desk of Governor Ron DeSantis for him to sign:
WASHINGTON TIMES – The Florida House passed legislation Thursday that would end Disney’s special taxing district, clearing the measure for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who proposed an end to the perk after the theme park giant denounced him over a sex education bill.
The House swiftly passed the measure in a party-line vote, skipping a formal debate after Democrats refused to stop loudly protesting in the chamber over an unrelated measure to redraw the state’s congressional map.
The Senate passed the Disney measure on Tuesday in a vote that was also divided along party lines. Mr. DeSantis has not indicated when he’ll sign it.
The measure specifically targets Disney’s unique Reedy Creek Improvement District, which the state approved in 1967 at the behest of Walt Disney, who sought independence from state and local governance in order to build and expand his theme park empire in Central Florida.
The measure would not take effect until 2023 and the Legislature could vote to reconstitute the special district in the future.
They say DeSantis hasn’t indicated whether he’ll sign it, but he clearly supported the bill because he believes all companies should be treated equally. He’ll sign it.
Now I know there are some on the right who are critical of this because they claim it’s retribution against Disney’s ‘free speech’. But I disagree and other prominent conservatives do as well.
The bill was enacted long ago in 1967 and it’s high time it comes to an end. Legislators probably weren’t thinking much about it to be honest, but since Disney has made such a stink about the entirely appropriate parental rights bill, legislators started thinking about it and decided to revisit this problematic and outdated law.
This morning Ben Shapiro weighed in on it from this angle:
If corporations choose to exit the free market by seeking media and legal dispensation from anti-market Leftists pushing radical social values, don't count on those of us who love free markets to defend you. F*** around and find out.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 21, 2022
Corporations have an interest in lobbying on issues that directly impact their business. If they choose to engage in politics outside their purview, they will be treated with all the aggression inherent to the political sphere, and they will deserve it.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 21, 2022
Go apolitical again, and we'll all be happy to go back to business. Turn into a propaganda and lobbying wing for the most radical activists, and be treated in kind.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 21, 2022
Now of course it will be challenged in lower courts, and I’m sure some of them will claim it is retribution against free speech and rule it unconstitutional. It will probably keep going up the judicial ladder until it hits the Supreme Court and we’ll see what they say about it.