Disney adds new Florida land use law to lawsuit against DeSantis

Jack Birle

May 08, 02:10 PM May 08, 02:10 PM

Disney filed an amendment to its lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) Monday, adding a land use bill and recent comments by DeSantis to its complaint.

The main addition to its complaint is a land use bill, or SB 1604, that includes an amendment nullifying the agreement Disney made with the previous Reedy Creek Improvement District board that undercut the new DeSantis-appointed board's power over the district encompassing the Walt Disney World Resort.

DISNEY'S FROSTY GOVERNMENT RELATIONS HAVE GONE COAST TO COAST

DeSantis signed the bill into law on Friday after the state House and Senate passed it on Thursday.

Disney called the new bill "unconstitutional," pairing it with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District's legislative action that the agreement between Disney and the previous board was void. The company alleges the legislative action and the land use law violate the contracts and takings clauses along with the due process clause of the 14th Amendment and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

"There is no rational basis to invalidate the Contracts, and the purported justifications for doing so are pretextual," the filing said.

"Because the Legislative Declaration and Senate Bill 1604 retaliate against Disney for its protected speech, Disney is entitled to a declaratory judgment that the Legislative Declaration and Senate Bill 1604 are unconstitutional and an order enjoining Defendants from enforcing them," reads the lawsuit.

The amended lawsuit seeks to have the law declared "unlawful and unenforceable."

The bill was amended last month to include a provision to allow "an independent special district" to be "precluded from complying" with agreements made in the three months before the modifying of laws on how the governing body selects members. The amendment also allows the new governing body to vote on readopting the agreements within four months of taking power.

The amendment does not directly name the former Reedy Creek Improvement District or the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

The new filing also cited new comments from DeSantis as evidence of alleged retaliation against protected speech.

The lawsuit now begins with a quote from DeSantis via remarks Friday, in which he stated the legislative action regarding Disney began after its condemnation of the Parental Rights in Education bill.

The amended filing also included comments the governor made regarding Disney's silence on politics since the fallout from its opposition to the Parental Rights in Education bill.

"Governor DeSantis trumpeted the unequivocal intent and perceived success of his retribution campaign: 'Since our skirmish last year, Disney has not been involved in any of those issues. They have not made a peep. That, ultimately, is the most important, that Disney is not allowed to pervert the system to the detriment of Floridians,'" the filing said, citing DeSantis's Friday comments.

The lawsuit was originally filed last month in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, alleging DeSantis and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board had engaged in a "relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain State officials."

"Governor DeSantis and his allies have no apparent intent to moderate their retaliatory campaign any time soon," the amended lawsuit said.

The feud between DeSantis and the company, which led to Disney's central Florida district being restructured, stemmed from Disney denouncing DeSantis's push for the Parental Rights in Education Act last year. Disney had maintained full autonomy over the district since its creation in 1967.

The Washington Examiner reached out to DeSantis's office for comment.