Request 040 — 2/9/2026

Requesting records from the Sunshine State!

Happy Monday! It’s foiaday!

🔎 ICYMI: last week, I published a monthly roundup of all requests filed in January, along with the agency it was filed to, links to the language used and brief updates on it if available.

Today, though, we have an update with a roundup of requests from the past week, plus a new request today: getting deets on The Mouse.

If there's a coworker or friend you think would benefit from this newsletter, feel free to forward it to them! If they subscribe, they'll also get a link to a template for the tracker I like to use to keep tabs on requests I've filed.

Request 040 — the Mouse 🐭

I really hope this doesn’t blacklist me from working for ABC or any of the other media companies owned by Disney, haha. (It’s really not that serious.)

We’re all familiar with the empire that is Disney. But are we familiar with the governance and logistics?

I owe some of my interest in this to an old (eight years? so… “old” 🫠) video from Midway to Main Street, a Disney enthusiast and YouTuber, that breaks down the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Ever heard of it?

It changed names in 2023, but since 1967, the Reedy Creek Improvement District was the basis of practically all local governmental operations for Walt Disney World outside Orlando, Florida. Now called the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, the agency made some headlines a few years ago when Gov. Ron DeSantis attempted to limit its power following the parks’ pushback against DeSantis’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation.

Reedy Creek, as it existed for decades, was effectively forced under new — gubernatorial — management, and the name, along with its scope, changed. Immediately prior to the handover of the board, the Reedy Creek district voted to severely limit the future district’s power. Now with a governor-appointed board, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District still focused on fire, police, water and other municipal duties, but no longer had “the power to potentially construct a nuclear power plant, airport, and stadium.”

It’s like a twisted game of Disney Succession. (Which is probably just… actual Succession.)

With that, though, according to DeSantis, Disney is now on equal footing with SeaWorld, which apparently also lacks the ability to build a nuclear reactor:

Right. So. What do they take care of now? What could we request? Some ideas, based on their website:

• Conflict of interest filings? Could be interesting, considering the makeup of the board.

• 911 calls? The district still oversees fire response, so that would include paramedics and incidents.

• Environmental reports? That would probably have to be filed with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, maybe?

• Registered lobbyists?

• Building inspections, and maybe building code violations?

Eh, let’s go for gold here. We’ll request:

- Data or documents sufficient to show a list of all building inspections in 2025. Please include the date of inspection, any related metadata and the outcome of the inspection. Please release documents in a .xlsx, .csv or .pdf format.

- Data or documents sufficient to show a list of all building code violations in 2025. Please include the date of inspection, any related metadata and the violation and code violated. Please release documents in a .xlsx, .csv or .pdf format.

- Data or documents sufficient to show a list of all lobbyists registered with the district between 1/1/2025 and 2/9/2026. Please all data available at this link (https://www.oversightdistrict.org/lobbyist-registration/). Please release documents in a .xlsx, .csv or .pdf format.

- All conflict of interest filings by members of the board between 1/1/2023 and 2/9/2026 as described here (https://www.oversightdistrict.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Ethics-Conflict-of-Interest.pdf). Please release records in a .pdf or other digitized format.

- A list of all calls dispatched to the District Fire Department between 12/1/2025 and 2/9/2026. Please include the date of the call, the address, and any related metadata. Please release the record in a .xlsx or .csv format if possible.

- Any documents related to environmental remediation on WDW property. If needed to narrow the request, please search for documents between 1/1/2022 and 1/1/2024. Please release records in a .pdf format if possible.

- Any records about the development of a nuclear power plant within the district. Please release records in a .pdf format if possible.

I think we’ll start there for now! The records retention schedule should net us a better idea of what records the Reedy Cr— erm, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District has.

That said! New agency alert!! New agency alert!! Let’s get additional records:

- A log, list, document or data to show all records requests filed with this agency (like a "FOIA log") between 1/1/2024 and the present. Please release documents in a digitized format and include a description of the request, the date of the request, the name or affiliation of the requester and the outcome of the request. Please release the document in a .xlsx or .csv if possible, or a .pdf if not.

- The most recent records retention schedule for the agency, which includes a list of documents kept by the agency and for how long each record is retained. This may be called a general records schedule, a records index, or something else. Please release this in a .pdf if possible.

Updates on records 🗄️

Going to keep this tight! Some responses from agencies included:

• A discussion with the Illinois Department of Corrections about my request for records on medication behind bars. Initially, I received a denial for one of the documents, which was for the drug formulary for IDOC, on the basis that it would pose a security risk to the facilities. After inquiring with the FOIA officer, that seems to not be the case — the request was extended, but not outright denied.

• I got some things back from the Chicago Park District about Lollapalooza, sort of. A link that was provided to a document was broken, so I can’t actually access it. But I know it exists! And they’ll send it over in due time, like they did with the records retention deets. Other parts of the request, about landscaping, are still in progress.

• Californiaaaaaaa… has yielded some records! I got back some documents from the L.A. City Tourism Department, including a retention schedule, but nothing on the reimbursements:
  

  

• The same goes for McPier, which also sent over a records retention schedule, but had no records of reimbursements for board members.

I’m still waiting on some documents, and some other requests had to be resent, so the documents aren’t coming back on a standard timeline. One of the fun things about this process has been getting to know different FOIA officers around the state, and being very okay with making mistakes. If you’re a FOIA officer I’ve communicated with and you’re reading this email, thank you for putting up with me! :)

Weekly requests 💌

Okay! Let’s also sum up the requests of this past week. I’m going to include the ones from last Monday’s update, just for reference, too:

Nice! I have some records requests that I need to resend, either because I sent it to the wrong place or because I accidentally invoked the wrong records law (…tacky! I’m so embarrassed! Don’t tell anyone!), like when sending records about campus delivery bots.

I’ll probably do a separate newsletter down the line (maybe for request #100?) about my process and how I keep track of everything. (Or at least try to keep track of everything.)

That, or you could buy tickets to NICAR, FOIA Fest or Sunshine Fest, and hear me talk about foiaday live on stage! If you’ll be there in person and want to catch up over coffee, drop me a line.

Happy filing!

Cam