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PHOENIX — Rejecting objections of improper constitutional intrusion, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted Tuesday to force Gov. Janet Napolitano to put National Guard troops on the border immediately.

The move came despite opposition from Col. Ed Flinn who said the Governor's Office told his agency to oppose the measure. Flinn said that is because it "appears to usurp authority from the executive branch, not because they're opposed to the idea of the National Guard going to the border."

That drew an angry response from Sen. Dean Martin, R-Phoenix.

"If she believes this an infringement on her executive power, she should be the one that is saying it," said Martin. He called it "totally inappropriate" for a National Guard colonel to be at the Legislature lobbying for the governor.

"We need the National Guard defending our borders, not the Governor's Office," he said.

Exactly what Napolitano wants, however, is not that clear.

The governor, in her State of the State speech, said she wants to station Guard troops along the border in a support role. She has so far, though, made that contingent on the federal government picking up the tab — something that hasn't happened yet.

Gubernatorial press aide Jeanine L'Ecuyer, out of state Tuesday with Napolitano, denied Napolitano directed anyone from the Guard to lobby against the bill.

"Sounds like a misunderstanding," she said, saying the governor "doesn't direct testimony." And L'Ecuyer refused to say what Napolitano thinks of this measure.

Martin, however, noted the National Guard reports to Napolitano and suggested the governor is playing politics with this issue.

"I find it extremely telling that the governor will, in her State of the State, when the cameras are watching, talking about a state of emergency, say we want the troops on the border, and later undermine attempts to do just that," he said.

The bill says a governor must call out Guard troops for any state of emergency due to illegal border crossings that result in increased deaths, crimes or property damage.

Napolitano declared such an emergency Aug. 16 of last year, a move that enabled her to provide grants to communities to deal with the effects of illegal border crossing like crime. This bill — retroactive to Aug. 15 — says any declaration also must include activation of Guard troops.

Lawmakers could force Napolitano to take a stance within weeks. This measure, already approved by the House, now goes to the full Senate.