Florida’s $1 Billion Disney Question

When Florida Republicans approved a bill to strip Walt Disney Co. DIS -3.17% of its special taxing privileges in April amid controversy over how gender and sexuality are taught in schools, they failed to address a key question: Who is responsible for paying back nearly $1 billion in municipal debt used to build roads, walkways and other infrastructure around Disney World?  

Florida law dictates the bondholders must be paid even if Disney’s special taxing district, known as Reedy Creek, is dissolved. A separate law creating Reedy Creek promised bondholders the state wouldn’t interfere with its...