DeSantis names new commissioner to oversee troubled insurance market

Michael Yaworsky is taking over as commissioner of Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation, the agency overseeing the state’s troubled property insurance market.

Gov. Ron DeSantis nominated him to the post Friday on interim basis. He will keep the interim designation until confirmed by the Financial Services Commission, according to a statement from the governor’s office.

Yaworsky has been the vice chair of the Florida Gaming Control Commission since December 2021 and before that was the chief of staff at OIR. He is replacing David Altmaier, who left in December after more than six years.

Yaworsky is taking over an agency dealing with the aftereffects of two major hurricanes that hit the state last year and with an all-but-crippled property insurance market that has undergone some recent reforms aimed at stabilization.

The reforms passed during two special sessions last year are meant to fix a system that has created a climate where insurance companies leave the state because it’s too difficult to operate in or go insolvent trying to make it work. This has put undo pressure on the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which was created to be the insurer of last resort.

Citizen ended 2022 with 1.15 million policies in place, a 50.9% increase over the number of policies —759,305 — in effect at the end of 2021.

In addition to his previous work with OIR, Yaworsky was legal counsel to the Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner. He’s also served as counsel to the Georgia Senate President Pro Tempore and a chief of staff at the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

According to his official state bio, Yaworsky has a bachelor’s degree in social science from Florida State University and a law degree from Samford University in Alabama. He has been a member of the Georgia Bar since 2014.