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PHOENIX — Gov. Janet Napolitano defended her decision Wednesday to impose new carbon dioxide emission standards for cars and trucks by rule, rather than asking state lawmakers to do it.

The governor said Wednesday that there is a role for the Legislature in setting state policy. And she said her administration does work with lawmakers when it's appropriate.

"Nonetheless, sometimes the Legislature doesn't move quickly enough," Napolitano said. And she said the Legislature is often not "the best body to actually rule on very technical matters."

But state lawmakers are acting now, and in a way not to the governor's liking. On Wednesday, the Senate voted to block her Department of Environmental Quality from implementing new rules governing greenhouse-gas emissions.

Sen. Jake Flake, R-Snowflake, said major policy decisions such as this one are best made by elected state lawmakers. Five Democrats joined with Republicans in the 20-7 vote to block her action.

Napolitano refused to say what she will do if and when the measure reaches her desk. But signing it would wipe out more than a year of work by the DEQ to write and adopt the rules — work she ordered the agency to do.

The new rules would require each automobile manufacturer to reduce overall greenhouse-gas emissions from its total sales in the state by 37 percent by 2016.

It would not ban the sale of any particular type of vehicle now sold in Arizona. Instead, it would set standards for how much more each manufacturer's "fleet" of vehicles sold in the state must reduce carbon dioxide from current levels.

That means some models of vehicles may not achieve a 37 percent reduction by 2016. But they could continue to be sold as long as there were sufficient other models with greater greenhouse-gas reductions bought by Arizona consumers.

And the rules also would mandate that 11 percent of each manufacturer's vehicles sold in Arizona beginning in 2011 must have no tailpipe emissions at all. That would increase to 16 percent by 2018 and beyond.

The rules are modeled after a similar California regulation. But the California rules have not taken effect — nor could the Arizona rules — unless and until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gives states permission to adopt their own standards. California sued after the EPA refused. Arizona has joined in that lawsuit.

Napolitano said Wednesday that "there's a balance to be struck" between having policy set by the Legislature and having it set by state agencies.

She said it is her "hope" that a parallel proposal to impose new "cap-and-trade" greenhouse-gas standards on industry could be done in cooperation with lawmakers. That measure would set specific limits on overall emissions, whether on a state or regional level, with companies having low emissions able to sell off what essentially are pollution "credits."

But she said the need for fast action on "very technical matters" often requires acting by rule.

Napolitano defended enacting restrictions by rule, saying it's equivalent to actually putting a bill through the Legislature.

"Both of them involve stakeholders; both of them involve public comment, public review and all the rest," she said. And Napolitano said both processes are "very transparent."

There are two public hearings for every new regulation.

The first one on this proposal, conducted earlier this year, brought out both supporters and opponents. But Mark Shaffer, spokesman for the DEQ, said nothing in the testimony persuaded agency chief Steve Owens to change a single item in the proposal his agency wrote.

A second hearing is set for May 6, before the Governor's Regulatory Review Council. That panel, whose members are appointed by Napolitano, is supposed to review rules for questions regarding legality and cost-benefit analysis.

Owens has acknowledged that the emission rules could add about $1,000 to the price of a new vehicle. But he said those higher upfront costs would be offset by greater fuel efficiency and a reduced need for maintenance.

But the agency conceded in a report that the plan could backfire and actually increase pollution. If Arizonans balk at the higher prices for new cars and trucks, more people could end up instead shopping for used vehicles that have less stringent emission standards not only for carbon dioxide but for other pollutants.