Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida has conducted a long-running campaign to limit the autonomy of Disney World, his state’s largest employer.
His efforts have widely been seen as retaliation for Disney’s opposition to legislation that Mr. DeSantis signed last year that prohibits classroom instruction and discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in some elementary school grades.
Here is some background on the yearlong dispute.
What have Mr. DeSantis and Disney been fighting over?
In March of last year, the governor signed into law the Parental Rights in Education Act, often referred to by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
The legislation prohibited classroom instruction and discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in certain elementary school grades.
The law was heralded by conservatives and scorned by L.G.B.T.Q. activists and many schoolteachers. Although initially silent, Disney joined the debate at the urging of its employees, who staged a public protest. Disney’s then-chief executive, Bob Chapek, made several remarks criticizing the bill.
Republican lawmakers in the state — including Mr. DeSantis, a potential candidate for president in 2024 — seized on Disney’s response. “If Disney wants to pick a fight, they chose the wrong guy,” Mr. DeSantis wrote in a fund-raising email to supporters.
This April, the state Board of Education, whose members were appointed by Mr. DeSantis, voted to expand the sexual orientation and gender identity policy to cover all grades, including high school.
What did conservatives say about Disney?
In response to Disney’s denunciation of the education legislation, Mr. DeSantis and Fox News hosts began last year to mock the company as “Woke Disney.”
It was not the first time the corporation has been accused of adopting stances that conservatives said went too far. Over the past few years, Disney has made several changes to its theme parks and streaming services that have drawn criticism from the political right.
The changes include a “retheming” of the Splash Mountain ride to disassociate it from its inspiration, the 1946 film “Song of the South,” in which a formerly enslaved man tells African folk tales. Disney World also revamped its Pirates of the Caribbean ride by removing a scene depicting pirates selling women in an auction. And Disney cut the greeting “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls” from some of its fireworks shows to be more inclusive.
The dispute between Disney and Florida lawmakers is indicative of the mounting pressure corporations face to be involved in partisan battles.
What happened with Disney’s special tax status?
Disney World, the 25,000-acre complex near Orlando, has a special tax status that began in 1967 and lets the megaresort essentially function as its own county government. Although the theme park is sandwiched between two counties, it operates as a special zone — formerly known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District and now the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
Such a designation has allowed the theme park to make its own decisions on the planning and permitting process for construction on its property, to levy taxes to pay for its own fire and medical response services and even to generate some of its own electricity. Through that status, the company has saved millions of dollars annually in fees and taxes, according to experts.
Disney has leveraged the benefits of that designation to build out its resort, which today includes multiple theme parks, hotels and a large bus fleet.
The Florida Legislature allowed Mr. DeSantis to take away Disney’s special status in 2022 until it realized that the abolishment of the district — set for June 1, 2023 — would require taxpayers in Orange and Osceola Counties to pick up the tab for Disney World services like fire protection, policing and road maintenance.
The district also carried roughly $1 billion in bond debt. If the district had been abolished, that debt would have been transferred to the counties.
Looking to avoid the implications of abolishing the district, the Legislature held a special session in February of this year, during which state lawmakers decided to allow Disney to keep the special tax district and other perks.
But the company, which employs roughly 80,000 people, is no longer able to appoint the members of the tax district’s five-member oversight board, a power now held by Mr. DeSantis.
How did Disney respond to losing its control of the board?
After the Legislature voted to take away Disney’s control of the board, Jeff Vahle, president of Walt Disney World Resort, said in a statement that Disney was “ready to work within this new framework.”
“We will continue to innovate, inspire and bring joy to the millions of guests who come to Florida to visit Walt Disney World each year,” Mr. Vahle said.
The company had also pushed through a development agreement that would limit the new board’s power, a little-noticed move that was only belatedly discovered by the governor’s appointees.
At a public meeting held in early February, the previous, Disney-controlled board passed restrictive covenants and a development agreement that gave the company widespread control over future construction.
The agreement, effective in perpetuity, also prohibits the tax district from using Disney’s name, Mickey Mouse or other characters without the company’s approval. Disney can sue for damages for violations.
The change drew widespread attention only in late March.
“It completely circumvents the authority of the board to govern,” Brian Aungst Jr., a member of the new council, said on March 29 at the group’s second meeting. “We’re going to have to deal with it and correct it.”
On April 26, the board appointed by Mr. DeSantis voted to nullify the two agreements that gave Disney vast control over expansion at the complex. Earlier, a lawyer for the board said Disney’s maneuvers relating to the development agreements were “improper and illegal” and that the company had failed to comply with a state law requiring it to notify the public before taking any actions.
Immediately after the board nullified the agreements, Disney sued Mr. DeSantis, the board and other state officials in federal court, saying it was subjected to “a targeted campaign of government retaliation.” The company has maintained that its actions with the agreements were legal and were approved in open public forums.
Mr. DeSantis’s continuing conflict with Disney has drawn criticism from his potential rivals for the White House, including former President Donald J. Trump, who said on his social media site that the feud was unnecessary and that Disney was outmaneuvering the governor. But Mr. DeSantis, through a spokesman, said he would continue to fight what he believed to be an unfair advantage that Disney has over other businesses in the state.
Maggie Haberman, Michael Levenson and Giulia Heyward contributed reporting.
