Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty resigns

On January 5, 2016, Kevin McCarty resigned as Florida’s top insurance regulator and stated that his departure would be effective May 2, 2016, according to Bradenton Herald. McCarty, 56, is the state’s Insurance Commissioner who decides how much homeowners pay for their property insurance.  He was appointed to the position in 2003 by Governor Jeb Bush and has served under the leadership of three Governors since then. Under Bush tenure, McCarty helped navigate the state through a series of devastating hurricanes while seeking to protect elderly consumers from fraudulent merchants of insurance products.

After many years of navigating the capital’s perilous political landscape McCarty was viewed as vulnerable after Governor Rick Scott took the oath as governor for the second time. Scott’s office already had a replacement in mind: Ron Henderson, a Louisiana insurance official who was being promoted by Fred Karlinsky, a Tallahassee Lobbyist for insurance interests and Scott supporter. Consumer groups rallied to McCarty’s side as a result of the controversy following Scott’s removal of Gerald Bailey as the state’s top law enforcement official.

McCarty is the state’s first appointed insurance commissioner and director of the state Office of Insurance Regulation. His successor must win the support of both Scott and Jeff Atwater, Chief Financial Officer, in a vote by the Governor and Cabinet.

McCarty’s departure leaves an empty position, one of the most challenging jobs in state government due to the sensitivity surrounding the cost and availability of insurance in a state vulnerable to hurricanes and insurance fraud.

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