Gov. Rick Scott’s budget recommendations will not be released until next week, but the kind of proposals his office has preferred so far reveal his approach to providing the savings he promised as a candidate.

Gov. Rick Scott met formally with his Cabinet for the first time Wednesday, and all members appear intent on finding ways to cut spending by merging, consolidating or eliminating programs or agencies in their departments.

As Rick Scott takes the reins of Florida government, some longtime political players find themselves marginalized or cut out of the decision-making loop altogether.

When Florida’s legislators gather in March for the 2011 legislative session, tackling the state’s $3.5 billion deficit will be one of their most difficult tasks. Many states face similar (or worse) situations, but that fact won’t make it any easier.

Florida senators and state officials Thursday took up where so many of their litigious-minded colleagues left off earlier in the week, taking the federal Environmental Protection Agency to task over its water quality standards.  Those standards are set to be finalized in August 2012.

Two weeks after legislators passed a law enabling more stringent legislative oversight of the rulemaking process of state agencies, the new law is already having the effect of delaying some new regulations.