State lawmakers on Tuesday were still untangling the consequences of Gov. Susana Martinez's decision this week to withdraw dozens of items she added to the Legislature's agenda last week.

Some legislators earlier had complained about the amount of work Martinez was creating by sending dozens of messages to both the House and Senate. They also complained about how some of the messages were written.

A governor can ask lawmakers to consider topics beyond the main focus of a 30-day session -- the state budget and financial matters. But some of the messages were vaguely written, potentially allowing a flood of bills on a plethora of topics, some lawmakers said.

By Tuesday afternoon, the Governor's Office had re-drafted many of the original messages sent to the House and re-sent them, House Majority Leader Ken Martinez, D-Grants, said.

The state Senate, meanwhile, was still unsure what to do.

Referring to Martinez's chief of staff, Keith Gardner, Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, said Tuesday, "I'm going to try to get a hold of Keith and say, 'Keith, we're not at a standstill, but there's still a bit of confusion about what needs to be done next.' "

While the confusion likely won't affect the final outcome of the 30-day session, some lawmakers are suggesting the episode shows Gov. Martinez's continuing struggle to understand how the Legislature works. The episode also presented an opportunity for some lawmakers to vent their frustration with the year-old administration, which is viewed in some corners as still learning the more difficult challenge of governing after winning an election.

One legislator who is a member of the governor's own party suggested Tuesday morning that the Senate should adopt the state budget proposed by the Legislative Finance Committee and adjourn to go home. The Republican legislator asked not to be named.

"There's a learning curve going on upstairs," Rep. Tom Taylor, R-Farmington, House Minority Leader, said Tuesday afternoon. "This is their first 30-day session. And every session is different. The idea was to have very broad messages and just 'Go for it, kids.' Some folks didn't like that. Then OK, fine."

A spokesman for the governor defended the office's actions Monday night, saying last week's messages were a reflection of Martinez's desire to accommodate many lawmakers who had asked her to issue executive messages to accompany their bills so the Legislature could hear them.

A governor's authority to ask lawmakers to consider nonbudgetary matters isn't a guarantee that legislation will be heard. Legislative leadership can choose not to act on an issue.

"Despite our efforts to be accommodating, they have expressed a desire to be more restrictive," Martinez spokesman Scott Darnell wrote in an email Monday night. "We will work with that, but members who are unhappy with their bill not being heard would need to speak with their leadership -- and not the Governor's office."

Some lawmakers said some of their heartburn came from how Martinez's executive messages were drafted. During previous administrations, many executive messages were accompanied with specific bills. In effect, the message gave the go-ahead for legislators to hear the bill if they wanted.

Some of Martinez's executive messages, however, were written using vague language and did not have accompanying bills. For example, one message declared that the Legislature could consider "water conservation," potentially clearing the way for any piece of legislation tangentially related to the issue, lawmakers said.

"What they did was issue a message that would have been good for five bills, which is fine as long as you tell us which five bills," Rep. Ken Martinez said, speaking generally and not about water conservation. That guidance didn't come with the original messages, he said. "We were worried about them being a little broad."

In the House, the Governor's Office originally sent 44 messages but withdrew 34, leaving 10 of the original batch, Darnell wrote Tuesday. Since then, the Governor's Office has sent additional messages to that chamber as well as redrafted versions of many of the withdrawn messages.

"Most of them came back," Rep. Ken Martinez said Tuesday.

The Senate has kept all of the messages Gov. Martinez sent last week and not asked for them to be withdrawn. Each chamber has its own rules.

"I know what the House did," Sanchez, the Senate Majority Leader, said. "We need to figure out what we're going to do on this side."

Contact Trip Jennings at 986-3050 or at tjennings@sfnewmexican.com.