Last week brought another settlement between DeSantis’ administration and a courtroom foe, leading to the governor declaring victory.
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District reached a legal settlement Wednesday that ended an Orange County circuit-court lawsuit. The lawsuit came amid a feud between DeSantis and the entertainment giant over its opposition to a 2022 state law that restricted instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.
Walt Disney World Resort President Jeff Vahle said in a prepared statement that the company was “pleased to put an end to all litigation pending in state court.”
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The legal settlement includes nullifying controversial development agreements that the entertainment giant entered with the former Reedy Creek Improvement District, which had close ties to Disney. The Legislature and DeSantis replaced the district with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District last year.
The settlement also lifts changes imposed by the new oversight board. District plans now revert to 2020 conditions as the two sides work on a new development agreement.
Appearing at a bill signing Thursday in Fort Lauderdale, DeSantis chalked it up as a win.
“Yesterday’s agreement acknowledges that those covenants and those 11th-hour agreements, done between the old district and the company, are null and void,” DeSantis declared.
Initially set up in the 1960s, the district provides government services for a swath of Central Florida that includes Disney properties.
The agreement also includes language that allows Disney to hold off on advancing its appeal of a federal lawsuit “pending negotiations among other matters of a new development agreement between Disney and the district.”
Disney’s federal case alleged state officials unconstitutionally retaliated against the company over its opposition to the education law, which supporters formally named the “Parental Rights in Education” measure but opponents labeled “don’t say gay.” The company’s appeal is pending at the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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