Florida lawmakers kicked off a two-week particular legislative session at present (February 6, 2023) geared toward introducing quite a lot of payments, together with one which particulars how Governor Ron DeSantis and the State of Florida plan to take management of Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID), which supplies Walt Disney World its personal authorities.
Today’s invoice is just the newest growth in an ongoing saga. If you wish to be rapidly introduced on top of things on the saga from this spring, please learn our prior put up: Florida Passes Bills to Dissolve Reedy Creek Improvement District. That covers what led to this invoice, when the dissolution would take impact, and the way it could affect Walt Disney World friends.
Since then, there have been extra developments with the firing of former CEO Bob Chapek, who instigated the RCID dissolution within the first place. The return of CEO Bob Iger led some, together with lawmakers who had launched the unique dissolution invoice, to say that it was unlikely the Reedy Creek Improvement District would truly go away. As earlier than, I’ll try to interrupt this down in an easy method, freed from hyperbole and sensationalism…
For starters, you possibly can learn House Bill 9B – Reedy Creek Improvement District, Orange and Osceola Counties for your self. Fair warning: the total textual content of HB 9B is 189 pages lengthy; like many items of laws, it makes use of many phrases to say little or no.
The official goal of this laws is said as reenacting, amending & repealing chapter 67-764, Laws of Florida, referring to district; supplies for continuation of authority for income assortment & powers to satisfy excellent obligations; renames district; supplies boundaries; revises method of collection of board of supervisors; supplies time period limits; revises board member compensation; revises powers of board; revises powers of district; supplies for transition; supplies for continued impact of stipulation between district & Orange County; supplies exception to basic legislation.
I’m not going to parse each sentence in the complete 189 web page invoice for quite a lot of causes, one of many greatest being that this isn’t the ultimate decision. The Reedy Creek Improvement District saga will stay ongoing, with the most probably final result nonetheless being a negotiated compromise between Disney and the State of Florida.
As far as this invoice goes, one of the pertinent components is the final sentence: “…the Reedy Creek Improvement District is not dissolved as of June 1, 2023, but continues in full force and effect under its new name.” That new title is the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
One of the explanations for renaming somewhat than dissolving and changing RCID is more likely to keep away from invalidating the present district’s money owed. Tax officers and lawmakers have warned that dissolving the Reedy Creek Improvement District threatens to shift an unlimited monetary burden to taxpayers and doubtlessly switch a $1 billion debt load to the state.
The invoice additionally states that it’s the intent of the Legislature to “preserve the authority necessary to generate revenue and pay outstanding indebtedness…No bond or other instrument of indebtedness previously issued by the district or any district project financed by bonds or other instruments of indebtedness shall be affected by this act.”
The invoice additionally addresses one other level of rivalry: management over the Reedy Creek Improvement District’s board. Pursuant to this laws, the Board of Supervisors of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District shall consist of 5 members appointed by Florida’s Governor and confirmed by the Senate.
Each member shall maintain workplace for a time period of 4 years and are required to be Florida residents, from a spread of various fields and backgrounds. However, anybody who has had a direct or oblique relationship to a theme park or leisure enterprise (together with subcontractors and subsidiaries) within the final 3 years is ineligible. It’s not simply Disney staff–it’s extra broadly written to embody a bigger swath of Floridian’s inhabitants. Under this, the secretary of a lighting firm that did work for Chuck E. Cheese can be ineligible.
Currently, the Reedy Creek Improvement District’s landowners elect its board. Because Walt Disney World owns virtually the entire land within the district, it has been in a position to hand choose board members for RCID. Which is the entire level. Reedy Creek removes pink tape, as Disney is just not topic to looking for (outdoors) native planning commissions for approval to construct new constructions. Walt Disney World can construct parks, points of interest, resorts, and different tasks inside Reedy Creek with little-to-no (outdoors) governmental oversight. That means Walt Disney World can keep away from the logistical hurdles of native authorities. That’s a double-edged sword, and one which additionally means Florida taxpayers are usually not footing the invoice for infrastructure at Walt Disney World.
Another space of rivalry has been the expansive powers of the Reedy Creek Improvement District. As greatest I can inform, this is kind of left intact by the invoice (see Section 8); the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District retains most, if not all, of the identical authority to personal or enhance property; assemble or alter water administration and flood management; construct parking, roads, or recreation services; function hearth management services; function, construct, and keep transportation networks; and way more.
Notable on this entrance is subsection 15, concerning public utilities. The district shall have the authority “to own, acquire, construct, reconstruct, equip, operate, maintain, extend, and improve electric power plants, solar energy generating systems, transmission lines and related facilities, gas mains and facilities of any nature…”
The verbiage right here is most likely geared toward acquiring a political win in stopping Walt Disney World from constructing a nuclear energy plant, a proper granted to the Reedy Creek Improvement District by Florida in 1967 that it’s unlikely to make use of. It additionally seems that the brand new district wouldn’t have the authority to construct an airport.
Other than that, there’s not a lot right here that’s materially completely different from the present incarnation of the Reedy Creek Improvement District. If this comes as a shock, you haven’t been paying consideration.
From my perspective, the largest deal about this invoice is that the Governor of Florida appoints all 5 members of the Board of Supervisors. There have been rumors of a compromise late final yr during which the governor would appoint 2 members of the board, which appeared much more believable–and possibly palatable to Disney. It’s unlikely that the identical shall be true if that’s all members. Either a compromise remains to be to be reached, or this could possibly be challenged in courtroom as soon as handed.
One factor to remember right here is that Governor DeSantis virtually definitely has presidential aspirations, that means that he most likely won’t be the particular person making these appointments. So, an evaluation of whether or not the governor controlling the Board of Supervisors is “good” or “bad” ought to have completely nothing to do with partisan politics.
Beyond that, my commentary is basically unchanged on matter of RCID’s potential dissolution. For these questioning how this may affect Walt Disney World, I’ll level to a piece from our unique put up discussing the dissolution of Reedy Creek Improvement District: “In short, I don’t think this will have any material impact on the guest experience at Walt Disney World. That’s because I don’t think Reedy Creek Improvement District will actually be dissolved when all is said and done.”
Much more commentary follows, after which this: “One could argue that this is because no legislator on either side of the aisle actually believes Reedy Creek Improvement District is going to be dissolved. Perhaps they’re cynical, thinking that it’s more about theater, a way to score a quick ‘win’ in today’s era of ‘politics as team sports’ and the ongoing culture wars. Maybe it’s a means of grabbing headlines, dominating the news cycle, and fundraising for midterms before moving on to the next outrage du jour that fuels each side’s base long before next summer.”
With that stated, it’ll be fascinating to see how CEO Bob Iger reacts. My guess–and hope–is that he doesn’t take the bait and make a public remark. He ought to perceive the political panorama in Florida for the following couple of years, and be cognizant of the results of being embroiled on this and different controversies.
Already, Walt Disney World President Jeff Vahle has issued an announcement. Or somewhat, non-statement: “We are monitoring the progression of the draft legislation, which is complex given the long history of the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Disney works under a number of different models and jurisdictions around the world, and regardless of the outcome, we remain committed to providing the highest quality experience for the millions of guests who visit each year.”
This is good. It suggests cooperation and deference, whereas committing to completely nothing. Part of Chapek’s miscalculation was approaching this with a traditional understanding of politics and energy dynamics, as knowledgeable by a long time of doing enterprise in Florida. Chapek’s entire strategy to the controversy was comedy of errors, remedying errors with much more errors, and managing to alienate actually everybody on the political spectrum within the course of.
Chapek’s dragging out of the controversy labored to Disney’s detriment, and to the advantage of politicians and commentators who’ve turned tradition wars into their entire model. Iger has significantly better political instincts and a defter contact, so this shouldn’t be an issue. If there may be going to be litigation, Iger doesn’t must remark–and Disney doesn’t should be a celebration to it. (Just because the phrase “Disney” doesn’t seem as soon as on this 189 web page invoice.)
Ultimately, my expectation stays that the Walt Disney Company and State of Florida attain a compromise that allows everybody to “win” in earlier than the clock strikes midnight on June 1, 2023. It’ll be an final result that permits state legislators and Governor DeSantis to assert victory, each within the ouster of Chapek and in modifying the RCID to cut back its energy and enhance oversight of the district.
The present invoice is one step nearer to that, but it surely’s most likely not fairly there from Disney’s perspective. The governor having the authority to make all appointments–and excluding these with even oblique relationships to theme parks–most likely gained’t be well-received by the corporate. It’s additionally doable that Disney doesn’t care and won’t struggle additional, cognizant of the truth that the state’s pursuits in selling the tourism trade and growth is aligned with the businesses pursuits. Everything else is kind of what was anticipated: Reedy Creek Improvement District by a brand new title, with a lot of the identical powers, minus a number of limitations that have been considered as pink flags (however that don’t a lot matter, anyway).
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Any ideas on the substitute of Reedy Creek Improvement District with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District? What about adjustments to appointments or the powers of the district? Keep the feedback civil, as this isn’t the place for politically-charged arguing, antagonism, private assaults, or perpetuating pointless tradition wars. While this matter is inherently political, we shall be heavy-handed in deleting feedback that quantity to little greater than vapid political cheerleading. Respectfully debating the professionals & cons and implications of RCID being dissolved (or whether or not it’ll truly occur) is completely high-quality, however don’t step outdoors the bounds of this slender matter. If you want to shout your opinions about Ron DeSantis, The Bobs, or different politicians/executives into the web abyss, that’s why Facebook was invented. 😉