The Florida House of Representative passed a bill revoke the Walt Disney Company’s special jurisdictional status in the state of Florida, sending the bill to Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who wants to punish the company for disagreeing with his “Don’t Say Gay” anti-civil rights dictum, the Associated Press reports.
The move would strip special debt load provisions for Disney, as well as take away the ability to run their 27,000 acres as independent business operations in which they determine operational hours and conditions, zoning issues and environmental issues.
Enacting the bill would likely bring significant development in Florida by Disney to a halt. The $2 billion in debt carried by Disney relating to property taxes that were not collected would be assessed to the people in the surrounding county, coming to a $1,200 tax bill per family, according to people who have analyzed the bill.
Disney fell on the bad side of DeSantis by announcing that its productions would include depictions of gay, bi and trans people, reflecting real like in which these people exist. DeSantis feels that accepting reality is, in his demented mind, Disney “grooming” children to become gay, or victims of pedophilia, or liberals, depending on whom DeSantis refers to in his speeches.