Today, Thursday, February 9, Florida lawmakers passed the 189 page bill, House Bill 9B which proposes for the State of Florida to effectively take over and rename Reedy Creek Improvement District has passed the Florida House of Representatives.
The fast tracked bill passed 82-31.
The bill will now move to the Florida Senate within the next 36 hours, and could quite possibly be on Gov DeSantis desk by the end of the week if it passes the chamber, when DeSantis is expected to sign it.
Also, the amendments that were proposed by Rep. Eskamani and Rep. Harris, who were seeking to change the language of the bill to ultimately prevent too much power falling into the hands of Gov DeSantis failed.
The189 page bill, House Bill 9B would see Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District re-named the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, a government-controlled district that would elect a board of supervisors, who would then be expected to propose a list of changes to the district’s power within one year.
The bill states that all 5 board members would be personally approved by DeSantis, with confirmation from the senate.
Plus, anyone who has been a theme park employee, officer or director in the past three years would be prohibited from serving on the board, along with their relatives, meaning DeSantis will have a large say in the future of Walt Disney World, via the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
In effect, Disney will lose control of the district upon the creation of the board of supervisors, whom are selected exclusively by DeSantis.
