PHOENIX — Foes of government services for those in this country illegally renewed their efforts Monday to force state agencies to demand proof of legal presence before providing any benefits.

State Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen explains a new legal effort to get a court to declare that virtually all state services are off limits to those who are in this country illegally. With him is Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, one of the architects of the 2004 ballot measure — a measure they say Gov. Janet Napolitano is not fully implementing. Behind them are Sens. Karen Johnson, R-Mesa, and Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City.

 Legal papers filed in Maricopa County Superior Court contend Gov. Janet Napolitano is ignoring the plain language of Proposition 200, approved by voters in 2004. That measure, approved on a 56-44 margin, denies “state and local benefits’’ to those who are neither citizens or legal residents.

 What happened, according to the lawsuit, is that Attorney General Terry Goddard subsequently issued a legal opinion concluding the initiative applies only to programs in Title 46 — the state Welfare Code — and not to programs like the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state’s health insurance for the poor. And even within the Welfare Code, Goddard concluded it does not apply to anything that involves federal money.

 Napolitano, relying on that opinion, directed her agency chiefs to demand proof of legal residency for just a handful of programs such as rental and housing assistance.

 A trial judge threw out the initial lawsuit. But the state Court of Appeals ruled unanimously last year that initiative supporters can sue the governor over how she is — or is not — enforcing the voter-approved law.

 And the appellate court said supporters of Proposition 200 can sue the directors of several state agencies to force them to demand proof of legal residency before providing government services.

 That paved the way for Monday’s court filing. Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, one of the architects of the initiative, said taking the governor to court is the only way to ensure the initiative, which Napolitano openly opposed, is enforced. “She’s the one that marched in the streets in Tucson against Prop 200,’’ he said. He called the governor’s limited interpretation of the initiative “a back-door veto.’’ “The people of this state ought to be outraged,’’ he said.

 Gubernatorial press aide Jeanine L’Ecuyer said staff lawyers were studying the latest court filing. But she said Napolitano has not ignored the law and is simply following the advice of Goddard, who is her legal counsel. “These guys have asked the court to make a different decision and they have the right to do that,’’ L’Ecuyer said. “And if the court orders a different interpretation we’ll deal with that when that happens.’’

 Neither Pearce nor Randy Pullen, chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, provided any specific proof Monday that any benefits are being offered to those here illegally, other than those the state must provide like public education and emergency health care. “We don’t have to go out and prove it,’’ Pullen said. “We know it’s going on,’’ Pearce said. “Everybody knows what’s going on.’’ What proof a court would require — and who would have to prove it — remains unclear.

 “The governor has the constitutional obligation to take care that the laws be faithfully executed and to transact all executive business with the officers of the government,’’ appellate Judge G. Murray Snow wrote in last year’s decision.

 But the ruling suggests that Napolitano may have to show she is complying.

  He noted the definition in federal law is much broader, including professional licenses, retirement, welfare, health, disability, food assistance and even unemployment.

 Voters have since closed some of the loopholes, voting by a 3-1 margin in 2006 to deny adult education classes and state-funded child-care assistance to those not here legally. That same measure also spells out that students at state universities and community colleges who cannot prove they are here legally must pay the higher tuition rate charged to out-of-state residents.

 Also approved in 2006 were separate measures to deny bail to some illegal entrants charged with crimes, deny those here illegally the right to collect punitive damages in lawsuits, and enacting English as the state’s official language.