power that once desantis signs the bill will soon be his. keep in mind the five member board disney appointed to control the district is going to be rye placed by one that desantis gets to pick himself. the governor called on lawmakers to strip disney of its special governing power last year after the company vowed to get his so-called don t say gay law repealed or struck down by courts. in a statement to cnn, the president of walt disney world resort said disney works under a number of different models and jurisdictions around the word and regardless of the outcome, we remain committed to providing highest quality experience for the millions of guests who visit us each year. we want to dig deeper now on this with richard folgerson who wrote a book about disney s influence. and richard, we re grateful to have you this morning. thanks for sharing part of your weekend with us. what is your response to this bill passing?
the super bowl, will they be frightened that this governor if president would do the same thing to them when they run commercials that show racially mixed couples together. we ll see if that happens. but politics has changed. it is more about cultural issues these days than it was about than it is about economics. taxes. issues of that sort. and quickly, last question, is this fight over? do you think disney might somehow respond? well, you read the statement that was made by the chairman of the company. i don t think that it is over. i think that the workforce at disney, large lgbtq workforce will press the company president to continue be opposed to anti-wokeness strategies. and we ll see what happens with campaign contributions made by the disney company. they are a large campaign contributor, largely to
the loss after days trapped under the rubble, a teenager found alive. we ll have the incredible story along with the footage. and plus governor desantis is getting new power over one of the state s most iconic theme park systems. the potential impacts of the latest twist in his feud with disney. and the situation is terrible, i can barely breathe. but you re still staying. i don t have a choice. plus months after hurricane ian slammed into the state, some in the storm s path are still living in tents. their story ahead on cnn this morning . welcome to cnn this morning. it is saturday, february 11th, there is no split screen here. we re actually here together and it is a treat to have you here in atlanta. it is great.
purpose authority that plans, designs and operates the public works on the disney property, that is what the disney company got when they came to florida because they didn t want to have to deal with a government that was not their own, anaheim with disneyland. they run taheir own fire department, police department, public works. and finances complicated. opponents were concerned that the district is carrying like $1 billion of debt. how is the state going to hanhandle that now? well, by taxing disney, the advertise any company got the po power, the responsibility to sell municipal bonds just like a regular city, like the city of orlando. and those are tax-free. that is a benefit that they got that universal studios doesn t
well, it is really not a surprise that it passed because of course the republican party controls the florida legislature. so it was a foregone conclusion that it would pass. it is kind of surprising however that republican governor would take on the biggest corporation in the state of florida. you wouldn t really expect that of a republican governor who is maybe a presidential hcandidate as well. let s talk about the details before we get to the political implications. what is known as the reedy creek improvement drstrict will now become the central tour recommend oversight district. what does it mean for residents who live there? well, there are 53 residents who live on property, and they live in two municipalities. that is something that the disney company created as a way to maintain control. but we re talking here not about those two municipalities but, rather, about the special