The new board controlling Disney’s special district will learn Wednesday that agreements meant to strip them of their powers are void, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Disney took a premature victory lap last month after reaching deals with the old Reedy Creek Improvement District board before the power handover to a five-member panel appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
But a person familiar with the investigation into the deals said they were executed unlawfully and are therefore ‘not worth the paper they’re written on.’
Reports last month claimed that Disney won in the war with DeSantis over governance of the jurisdiction where the entire amusement park is situated along with its resorts.
Disney tried to get the last word by entering into agreements written entirely by lawyers for Walt Disney Co. and handed to the old board for signature, which would render the new board useless by giving all power over the district to the corporation before the overhaul.
Walt Disney Co. celebrated too early, thinking it clinched a win in the war with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by pushing through two deals with the old Reedy Creek board before the new one took over
Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board will meet Wednesday to hear a presentation on how the deals meant to strip them of their powers are void because the old board did not give a proper notification period, a source familiar with the investigation told DailyMail.com
Investigators will tell the new DeSantis-appointed board on Wednesday that these deals are void and that they can move forward with governing the formerly special designated tax district.
‘Disney overplayed their hand after doing their victory lap. Comes to find that all of their agreements are legally invalid,’ the source told DailyMail.com.
Board members are prevented by Florida law from meeting as a group outside of public hearings, so the presentation on Wednesday will be the first time that the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board will hear about the issues with the deals.
While the board is meeting, DeSantis will give two separate speeches in the early primary contest state of South Carolina, spreading word about the Florida Blueprint for America.
Speculation is heightening that DeSantis is planning to announce a bid for the Republican primary for the 2024 presidential race. He is the only candidate that comes close to giving former President Donald Trump competition.
A big part of DeSantis’s blueprint is cracking down on corporations’ involvement in environmental, social, and governance investing (ESG). This is a form of investing where companies with copious amounts of money are able to use their resources and finances to influence political and social issues.
This is something DeSantis feels is wrong, and something he has cracked-down on Walt Disney Co. for doing when they spoke out against his Parental Rights in Education law, which prevents the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity in classes for children up to the third grade.
Since then, DeSantis and Disney have been at war – coming to a head when the governor took control of the special district that allowed the corporation special privileges that other companies in the state do not have.
What makes the Reedy Creek deal with Disney unlawful, the source told DailyMail.com, is that the old board did not mail out notification of the hearings they were conducting to adopt the new contracts with Disney, which is required by Florida law to be done in the public notice period.
Additionally, there was no quid pro quo to make sure the deal was balanced.
The person familiar with the probe told DailyMail.com that the board will learn that while the Reedy Creek board gave Disney essentially the powers of local government, the district did not get anything in return.
Reedy Creek Improvement District was established in 1967 and gives Disney special privileges. In DeSantis’s war with Disney, he stripped the jurisdiction of its pro-Disney board and is renaming it the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District with his own five-member board
‘One of the things that we normally think about in a contract is you have to give consideration or something of value,’ the source explained. ‘It’s a quid pro quo. You know, I have to give you something, you have to give me something in order for us to have a binding contract so that we both have to execute under it.
‘And so, here the district gave a whole lot to Disney,’ they added. ‘So this gives Disney all of those powers of a local government, and Disney doesn’t give the district anything back.
‘At most, Disney says, “Hey district, if you ever need to buy property from us in the future for whatever reason, we’ll sell it to you at fair market.” Well, that’s what the law requires, anyway. So that’s a losing theory.’
Giving a corporation essentially the powers of a local government is also against Florida law due to a non-delegation doctrine in the Sunshine State.
‘What they’ve done is they’ve delegated to Disney so much of government corps number of functions that it violates our non-delegation jurisprudence, and it’s another reason that these documents, these agreements are just void,’ the source said.
‘They’re just not worth the paper they’re written on.’
When a notice period is carried out improperly, the whole process must start from scratch – and the new board will be less than willing to enter into an agreement created entirely by the business they are seeking to regulate.
Disney was awarded special privileges and exemptions when the Reedy Creek Improvement District was created in 1967.
