As the fight between GOP lawmakers and The Walt Disney Company escalates, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is taking aim at the House of Mouse's special governing privileges.
DeSantis said Tuesday that the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature would take up a bill during this week's special session that would dismantle the special district that has allowed Disney to act as its own local government in central Florida.
Politico reports that lawmakers were already scheduled to meet to approve a new congressional map proposed by DeSantis.
While he did not give specifics, the Sunshine State governor said that the legislation would repeal special districts that were created prior to 1968, which would include the Reedy Creek Improvement District that Disney sits in.
Spanning 25,000 acres in Orange and Osceola counties on Disney-owned land, the district was created in 1967 and provides fire and emergency services, oversees environmental and land use rules, and maintains all public roads.
Amid the fallout from the Parental Rights in Education Act, the move by DeSantis and the state's GOP to strip the iconic entertainment company of its self-governing status is the latest salvo in a showdown over LGBTQ instruction in Florida schools.
Florida's recently passed parental rights law bans classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade.
Hours after DeSantis signed the legislation, Disney issued a statement, saying that the bill "should never have passed and should never have been signed into law."
"Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that," Disney said.
According to the Washington Examiner, Disney CEO Bob Chapek stopped the company's political donations in Florida on March 11 and apologized for the company's initial refusal to take a stand against the bill.
A federal lawsuit challenging the legislation has already been filed by a group of LGBTQ activists, Politico reports.
The company's storied Disney World Resort is located in Orlando, Florida, and Disney employs more than 60,000 people in the state, making it the largest employer in central Florida, according to the Orlando Business Journal.
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