(NewsNation) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law an action that will strip Disney of its private government on Friday after the company criticized a bill that’s been dubbed the “Don’t say gay” bill.
The law limits how teachers can discuss gender and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade classrooms. Disney said in March it would support organizations trying to stop the “Don’t say gay bill” from becoming law.
On Thursday President Joe Biden mocked DeSantis for “going after Mickey Mouse” during a speech at the Democratic National Committee.
Critics of DeSantis and Florida Republicans were nonetheless unable to prevent the governor from signing the bill into law and subsequently the law stripping Disney of it’s special tax status and self-government.
DeSantis called Florida legislators into a special session earlier this week on the redistricting of the state’s legislative maps where he proposed ending all of the state’s special taxing districts created before 1968, which included Disney World in Orlando.
It allows the company to control permitting, firefighting, power generation and road maintenance on their 27,0000-acre resort near Orlando.
The special district will be dissolved June 1, 2023.
Democrats and Republicans have both said the dissolution could raise taxes.
Florida Republican state Sen. Manny Diaz said property taxes could rise 15 to 20% for homeowners near Disney sprawling Orlando campus.
“That is why the 12-month ramp up, or delay,” Diaz told NewsNation. “It is a complex issue. It allows the legislature to really dig in on the effects.”
Florida Democrat Sen. Tina Polsky painted the legislation as revenge politics.
“It turns out that there’s hundreds of them (special independent districts) across the state,” Polsky said. “So in order to punish Disney, they came up with a way to distinguish the Disney independent special district from others. And they decided that districts that were formed before 1968 and have not been reconstituted could be dissolved.”