Legislators don't come back to Tallahassee until next spring.

"We have the authority until someone says we don't, " Crist said after the vote. "It protects people."

While the measure addresses several problems, it doesn't tackle two key areas of concern: the licensing of loan originators and mandatory criminal background checks for mortgage brokers renewing their licenses.

Saxon, whose agency has consistently opposed licensing loan originators, said the Legislature would have to change the law to include them in the background checks. Lawmakers would also have to impose changes to mandate criminal background checks for brokers renewing their licenses.

The Herald found 20 brokers who were allowed to renew their licenses despite being found guilty of mortgage fraud.

After voting on the emergency rule, Sink turned the conversation to Saxon's future, noting "these are rules that could have been put in place years ago."

LEADERSHIP AT ISSUE

She said the OFR needed more aggressive leadership and asked her panel members to "think about all the people who haven't been protected because our board hasn't been asked to act."

Saxon said he wants to stay in his $133,000-per-year job until Crist's inspector general finishes an audit of the agency. That report is due at the next Financial Services Committee meeting on Sept. 16.

"It was always my hope that, once that audit was complete, it would show we had not acted as recklessly as The Miami Herald might suggest, " Saxon said.

After the Cabinet voted to accept his resignation, Saxon marched swiftly out of the chamber, telling reporters, "I have been contemplating this since long before the series came out, so this just seemed to be the perfect timing."

Saxon will be eligible for a lump sum payment of $198,675 from the Deferred Retirement Option Program when he leaves, according to a spokesman for the Department of Management Services.

His state pension will pay $61,000 per year.