A bill limiting the authority of the Florida Public Service Commission to regulate basic land line telephone service breezed through its first Senate committee Monday.

Under Senate Bill 1524, the PSC would no longer be able to regulate prices for land line phone services, but would still act as an arbiter for disputes between companies or wholesale service providers.

"Thisdeals with the deregulation of the last vestige of regulated phone service in the state of Florida," said Sen. David Simmons, R-Maitland, who is sponsoring the bill.

Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Posey is once again pushing for legislation to cut taxes on Social Security benefits and ending the mandatory IRA withdrawals required for 70-year-olds. Posey called for ending Social Security payroll taxes on recipients.

House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, released the first round of budget allocations to the various appropriations committees on Monday.

The Florida Legislature will be called to make difficult choices for the FY 2011-12 budget, insisted Cannon in a memo sent out to House members on Monday. The Revenue Estimating Conference has determined the gap between anticipated revenues and needs to be within a range of $2.9 billion to $4.6 billion. On Friday, the REC revised their General Revenue estimate downward by $215.8 million.

Gov. Rick Scott released his weekly address on Friday afternoon. Scott touched on his trip to Panama in his remarks and called for expanding ports -- namely Miami.

On Friday, Gov. Rick Scott announced that Elaine Jordan, a veteran of consulting and human resources, will head up Personnel and Appointments in the governors office. She had been with Fiderion and Korn Ferry.

My administration has pledged to recruit the best people possible to implement my agenda, said Scott in a statement. Elaine Jordan will help the Scott administration recruit the best people, both here in Florida and nationally, to help turn this state around.

Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, released a video on Friday, offering an update on issues at the close of the second week of the legislative session. Gardiner touched on proposals on immigration reform and helping businesses impacted by the Gulf oil spill.

The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure on Thursday calling for an end to federal funding of NPR -- a favorite GOP target these days, especially after an executive made a comment calling tea party activists racists.

While the measure is not expected to pass the Senate, the Florida delegation broke on party lines, with every Republican voting to defund NPR and all the Sunshine State Democrats on the other side.

As he continues to ponder taking on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, Republican U.S. Rep. Connie Mack called out President Barack Osamas leadership on Thursday.

Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio released a video on Thursday, stressing his opposition to continuing resolutions to keep the federal government funded.

Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio will continue to be in the national conservative spotlight come June. He is being advertised as speaking at an event held in Washington by Ralph Reeds Faith & Freedom Coalition. Other speakers who are being touted include U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and political strategists Dick Morris and Karl Rove.