Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says he's ready to keep up the fight with The Walt Disney Co., telling Republicans in Ohio that "round two" is coming in the fight between the state and the entertainment giant over control in the two cities where Walt Disney World Resort is located.
"They're fighting us on this," DeSantis said Thursday while speaking at the Butler County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner in Ohio, reports Florida Politics. "The media's acting like Disney getting out from under. No, it's not going to happen. We'll have news on that next week. So stay tuned. There will be round two in terms of those fireworks."
Florida lawmakers will hold a hearing Wednesday about a resolution that's been developed to give the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board, a new entity formed by DeSantis, control over development in and around the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista.
The resolution would give the board the power to review and evaluate development taking place in the 25,000 acres of land in and around the Disney theme park. According to a Florida law forming the state-appointed oversight board, the board would have "superior authority and control" over the region's zoning, planning, and other types of land use.
The Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and the Animal Kingdom are in Bay Lake's city limits, and the Disney Springs retail area is in Lake Buena Vista.
Earlier this month, DeSantis pushed back in comments while in Ocala, Florida, after Disney's former governing board, the Reedy Creek Improvement District, approved deals that stripped the state-controlled board of power after the legislature established the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
"There will be additional legislative action taken in Tallahassee that will nullify what they tried to do at the eleventh hour and then potentially arm the board with the ability to make sure that this is run appropriately," DeSantis said in Ocala, reports Florida Politics.
"We need to make sure that people understand whether you're an individual or you're a corporation, that you don't get to play by your own rules," he added.
The governor also made similar warnings while speaking at Hillsdale College in Michigan in early April.
"We're not just going to void the development agreement they tried to do," DeSantis said. "We're going to look at things, like taxes on the hotels, we're going to look at things like tolls on the roads, we're going to look at things like developing some of the property that the district owns."
He added that Disney is "not superior to the people of Florida," and promised that "come hell or high water, we're going to make sure that the policy of Florida carries the day. And so, they can keep trying to do things. But ultimately, we're going to win on every single issue involving Disney, I can tell you that."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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