The board put together by Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis is firing a retaliatory strike against Disney, vowing to file a lawsuit to counter Disney's lawsuit last week.
"Disney sued us; we have no choice now but to respond," Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Chair Martin Garcia told a meeting Monday, according to Politico.
"The district will seek justice in state court here in central Florida where both it and Disney reside and do business."
Details of the state lawsuit were not available as of this writing, and it was expected to be filed later Monday, according to the report.
DeSantis has kicked up the legal back and forth after Disney objected to the state's passing of the Parental Rights in Education Act, which sought to keep elementary schools from pushing talk about sex and gender dysphoria without parental consent.
That led DeSantis to be concerned a private company in the state was working against the will of the voters, and moving DeSantis to unwind Disney's self-governance deal in the state.
Disney bypassed DeSantis' action with 11th-hour moves, which led DeSantis to respond with a board to enact the will of the state.
Then, last week, Disney sued in federal court, claiming DeSantis was weaponizing the state government for political purposes.
Now, the DeSantis-backed board plans to sue Disney to keep its and the state's authority over the central Florida theme park.
"Yes, we'll seek justice in our own backyard," Garcia vowed at Monday's meeting, noting the purpose of the lawsuit is to "uphold and enforce" the board's vote to void Disney's 11th hour action to keep Florida from ending the long-standing self-governance deal.
Notably, Disney's federal lawsuit is going before a judge appointed by former President Barack Obama, who has been unfavorable to DeSantis in past rulings, CNN reported.
"In essence, Disney is asking a federal court in Tallahassee to wrestle back the hands of time to 1967 while this board is instead charged legislatively with bringing the district into the 21st century, with new and better policies and practices," Garcia said, according to CNN.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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