Florida Senate passes bill to end Disney’s privilege to self-govern

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The Florida Senate has passed legislation ending Disney’s special tax privileges and self-governing power, which enabled it to operate autonomously of the state since 1967.

As detailed by Rebel News on Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis promised to strip Disney of its self-governing status. He made the call following the entertainment giants' opposition to the state’s anti-grooming legislation, which prohibits instruction relating to sexual orientation and gender identity in the K-3 bracket.

The Florida governor has clashed with the entertainment giant over his recently enacted legislation, which prohibited instruction related to sexual orientation and gender identity for kids aged five to eight, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by the mainstream media, Disney took a stance against the anti-grooming legislation to condemn it as anti-LGBT.

Announcing the Florida Senate’s vote of 23-16, Republican State Rep. Randy Fine, who introduced the legislation said “Disney is a guest in Florida. Today, we remind them.”

“I don’t think there’s another special taxing district in the state that I’m aware of that has the ability to construct their own nuclear power plant. I think that’s something that unique to Disney,” Republican House Speaker Chris Sprowls said Tuesday.

Under the legislation, Disney will no longer be able to operate its own water, power, and emergency services autonomously of the Florida state government.

“I was shocked to see some of the stuff that’s in there. They can do their own nuclear power plant. Is there any other private company in the state that can just build a nuclear power plant on their own?” DeSantis said during a press conference Tuesday.

“They’re able to do certain things that nobody else is able to do. So I think they’re right to be looking at this and reevaluating and having an even playing field for everybody, I think is much better than basically to allow one company to be a law onto itself,” he added.

In response to the legislation's passage, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is now offering the Mickey Mouse company “asylum” as he urges Disney to move to the rocky mountains.

According to the New York Post, Polis is openly lobbying the Walt Disney Co. to relocate its theme park from Orlando over what he refers to as “authoritarian socialist attacks” from the Republican party.

“Florida’s authoritarian socialist attacks on the private sector are driving businesses away,” the Democratic governor tweeted Tuesday. “In CO, we don’t meddle in affairs of companies like @Disney or @Twitter.”

 “Hey @Disney, we’re ready for Mountain Disneyland and @twitter we’re ready for Twitter HQ2, whoever your owners are,” he added.