Things are moving forward in the battle between Disney and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and this time it involves the Florida Legislature.

After discovering agreements Disney had made with the old Reedy Creek Improvement District Board (now called the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District) that gave Disney a lot of power in the District moving forward, the new board of supervisors (appointed by DeSantis) has called for legal action against Disney. DeSantis has outlined what the next steps would involve — including a bill that would nullify Disney’s agreements with the old board, and now we’ve got an important update.

In early March 2023, Senate Bill 1604: Land Use and Development Regulations was filed in the Florida Senate (its related bill in the Florida House of Representatives is House Bill 439: Land Use and Development Regulations).

It is described as a bill meant to revise the planning periods included in a comprehensive plan, require local governments to determine in plan amendments are necessary, require local governments to evaluate and update comprehensive plans to reflect changes in location conditions, and more.

On April 14th, the Bill was placed on the Committee agenda for the Rules Committee. It is set to be addressed there on April 19th at 8:30AM. But now there has been a development. As part of DeSantis’ plan of attack against Disney and their agreements with the old Reedy Creek board, an amendment has been proposed to this bill.

The amendment was filed by Senator Blaise Ingoglia, who spoke during DeSantis’ April 17th press conference about the actions DeSantis plans to take against Disney. During that press conference, Ingoglia said it was “unconscionable that one corporation [meaning Disney] would hold that much power.” He directed some words to Disney: “You are not going to win this fight, this Governor will.” His advice to Disney was to “just let it go,” apparently making a Frozen reference.

So what does the amendment say? Let’s break it down.

Amendment 1 — 603230

This amendment was filed at 8:07AM on April 18th, 2023. This amendment would create an addition to one part of the Florida statutes regarding the review of development agreements.

Specifically, the amendment would prevent independent special districts from complying with any development agreement if that development agreement was entered into within 3 months before the effective date of a law that changes how the governing body of that special district is selected (either from election to appointment, or from appointment to election).

The amendment goes on to say that the new governing body of the special district will review (within 4 months of taking office) the development agreements and then will get to vote on whether to readopt the agreement or not.

If passed, this amendment would apply to ANY development agreement that is in effect on or is signed after the date of this new section. But note that this subsection would actually expire on July 1st, 2028 unless it is reenacted by the Florida Legislature.

How would this apply to Disney? Well, one of the key agreements that Disney entered into with the old board was a Chapter 163 Developer’s Agreement. This is one of the big things that gave Disney a lot of power and certainty regarding its ability to make decisions over the land in the District regardless of what the new board may say or do.

The Developer’s Agreement was approved by the old board on February 8th, 2023, while the law approving the new name for the District and its new governor-appointed board was officially signed by DeSantis on February 27th, 2023.

That means the Developer’s Agreement fell within 3 months of a law that changed how the District’s board of supervisors (its “governing body”) was selected — moving from elected to appointed officials. So the Developer’s Agreement would essentially be placed on “pause” and the new Board would be “precluded from complying” with its terms. The new Board would be able to review it and decide whether they want to move forward with it or not.

DeSantis has already indicated that the new Board is expected to determine that the Developer’s Agreement was invalid and declare as much during its April 19th, 2023 meeting, so that expectation coupled with this amendment (if passed) would essentially lead to the end of that Developer’s Agreement.

Update: A similar amendment has been filed to HB (House Bill) 439 by Stan McClain. The bill has been added to the State Affairs Committee agenda and is set to be heard on April 19th at 8AM, so we could hear some updates then.

On April 19th, Representative Anna Eskamani argued against the amendment, indicating that it only served to continue “the Disney vs DeSantis drama” and could encounter issues with the Florida Constitution’s clauses against impairing the obligation of contract. However, the amendment was adopted by the House State Affairs Committee. 

Another amendment was also introduced by Ingoglia in the Senate but it is not related to the Developer’s Agreement. Instead, this is related to building permits for residential communities.

Want to read all about the bill? You can click here to visit the Senate’s website.

Problems

Some have raised concerns about the amendment related to the Developer’s Agreement and whether it would hold up in court. Representative Anna Eskamani (who has been vocal in her criticism of DeSantis’ actions related to Reedy Creek) posted on Twitter saying “This immediately seems like it’s going to run into Constitutional problems with impairing contracts.”

Nick Papantonis, a reporter for WFTV in Orlando, also posted on Twitter about this saying “An attorney texted me saying it’s arguably constitutional for the DA, but not for the King Charles covenants. Disney has a retaliation argument against both. They expect Disney to win.”

What Happens Next

In terms of what happens next, it appears the bill to which the amendment applies is on the Committee agenda for the Rules Committee for April 19th, 2023, so it could be discussed at that point. On that same date, the new Board of Supervisors for the District are set to meet to go over a number of matters and DeSantis expects they could tackle a number of things (including a legal briefing about Disney’s agreements).

We’ll be keeping an eye out for more details and will let you know what we find.

Click here to see what DeSantis has said about being in charge of inspecting Disney rides