Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s public proclamation to end Walt Disney World’s control over its special tax district has been railroaded by an 11th-hour agreement signed by the previous board overseeing the development of the amusement park that appears to drastically limit the control that can be exercised over the district at least till the year 2053.
The Reedy Creek Improvement District, as the previous board was called, which was controlled by Disney, approved the agreement on February 8 — the day before the Florida House voted to put the governor in charge. On February 27, DeSantis replaced those Disney-allied board members with five Republicans who discovered the binding agreement the previous board approved.
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Investigative journalist Mike DeForest said that the clauses of the agreement were made available online but no one bothered to check them.
The agreements between Disney and the old Reedy Creek board were recorded with the Orange County Comptroller on Feb 9 – the day before the Florida legislature passed the bill altering the district and 18 days before @GovRonDeSantis signed it. It was all online. Nobody noticed. pic.twitter.com/6xqJ1Urzpl
— Mike DeForest (@DeForestNews6) March 29, 2023
Subsequently, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District’s new board of supervisors has voted to bring in external legal help to examine the agreement. “We’re going to have to deal with it and correct it,” board member Brian Aungst Jr. said. “It’s a subversion of the will of the voters and the Legislature and the governor. It completely circumvents the authority of this board to govern.”
One of the board members also outlined the only power that the board will be left with of this contract holds. “This essentially makes Disney the government,” board member Ron Peri said. “This board loses, for practical purposes, the majority of its ability to do anything beyond maintain the roads and maintain basic infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, Disney stans firm on the clauses mentioned in the agreement. “All agreements signed between Disney and the district were appropriate and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida’s Government in the Sunshine law,” an unsigned company statement read.
Did Disney’s contract with Reedy Creek mention King Charles III?
A specific portion of the clause mentioned in the agreement has gone viral on social media due to how it was drafted. It says that the contract will be valid “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, King of England, living as of the date of this declaration.”
An incredible, and real, clause in the Disney contract with Reedy Creek—“shall continue in effect until twenty one years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III”
The Disney attorney that drafted this clause deserves one hell of a bonus. https://t.co/3C3T0FrdZ6
— alex howard-fuentes (@ajhoward121) March 29, 2023
The ‘royal’ contractual clause dates back to 1692 Britain. It is the most often used in the UK as that is where the monarchal system is prevalent. It is usually used as a buffer against perpetuities. It essentially lets attorneys establish a period that would legally never expire. It is also in use in Australia, as an Australian lawyer confirmed in a responding tweet.
Australian lawyer here. It's pretty common wording for a trust. They can't be indefinite so we fix it to the descendants of the Monash as that is a) tradition and b) easy to trace royal descendants. It is a way around the legal rule against perpetuities.
— Shakes_fan (@megan_dansie) March 29, 2023
