Once every twenty years the
Florida Constitution Revision Commission meets to hear proposals from citizens on constitutional amendments. At least one American has embraced this freedom with 126 proposals. Loyal Millett, who the
Tampa Bay Times identified as an Uber driver, has proposed changes from everything between updates on
casinos in the state to
birth control access. Millett took a break in his proposals between June and August last year when it looks like he moved from Morrisville, North Carolina to Taylorsville, Utah. His last submission is from October just before the open submission window closed.
He proposes to increase the Florida Supreme Court from
seven justices to nine, he proposes to
background checks on gun purchases, he proposes undoing the 67 counties and
instead breaking the state into
nine regions, but if that doesn't work he also proposes renaming Miami-Dade County to
Biscayne County. Some of his proposals seem
farfetched, like his
abolish the Commissioner of Agriculture and giving the Governor his own flag, but others seem a bit more logical, like not
naming or building memorials to Confederate soldiers or
banning billboards on all federal-aid or state highways.
Out of his 126 proposals, there’s one that has gotten the
most attention though: A proposal to change the name of Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake in Disney’s self-managed Reedy Creek District to simply the
City of Disney. The proposal looks to keep most of the current government structure in place. It proposes that “Effective January 1, 2021, the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, including all unincorporated areas within the Reedy Creek Improvement District, shall be dissolved and reincorporated as the City of Disney.”
The move isn’t likely one that Disney would take seriously, but it did cause an
internet storm last week when a popular
Disney historian on Twitter mentioned the proposal, which was submitted in June of 2017, just before Millett’s move to Utah.
It’s not clear exactly how much say Disney would have in it through with this proposal. The constitutional proposals must first of
get a sponsor from one of the 37-person Revision Commission; then it must get approval from at least nine other members before going to a final vote. In theory, this could all happen without Disney’s approval but with their trademarked name being involved this seems highly unlikely and a sure bet for legal action by one of the state’s largest employers.
So far, none of Millett’s proposals have gained a sponsor. It should be noted at least one of Millett's proposals involved
legalizing marijuana, no word if he was doing any 'research' on that topic when he came up with ideas for his 126 proposals.