PHOENIX — While the clock is ticking down for when Arizona needs to have a budget, it’s unclear when that will happen, Gov. Janet Napolitano said Wednesday.

While it is one of the latest times without a state budget, the Democratic governor said, “when I wasn’t governor,” completion of a budget went into July. The state’s budget is supposed to be completed by no later than June 30, which this year is Monday.

In the past the legislators “turned the clock hands backward” so July 1 never came, she laughingly said during a telephone interview with the Herald/Review.

When it comes to the Arizona Senate’s proposed budget, Napolitano said although there are things in it she doesn’t favor, she can accept it because it was a bi-partisan effort.

As for the House proposal, Napolitano said it appears it will not be going anywhere, because the House can’t get a simple majority — 31 votes — to adopt it.

Last Saturday she and the governor of the Mexican state of Sonora — Eduardo Bours Castelo — signed new security agreements to help protect people on both sides of the international boundary the two states share.

The Arizona Department of Law Enforcement will be sharing information with its counterparts in Sonora to help stop the flow of weapons southward in an effort to help curtail crime in Mexico.

In 2007, 238 weapons confiscated at crimes scenes throughout Mexico were traced back to Arizona, according to a Saturday press release.

Bringing weapons into Mexico is illegal, according to that country’s laws, and having a way to stop the flow from Arizona will help reduce some of the violent crimes being committed by drug cartels and human-smuggling organizations, Napolitano said.

DPS will be checking southbound traffic at a number of ports shared by the two states to help reduce the weapons, “some really serious weapons,” from entering Mexico, she said.

Although there is crime along the border area shared by Arizona and Sonora, Napolitano said she and her counterpart do not want the region to face major crimes that plague Laredo and El Paso, Texas, and their neighboring Mexican cities of Nuevo Laredo and Juarez.

Besides the eTrace program, which allows for the exchange of training and information to track firearms used to commit crimes on either side of the border, which is an expansion of work the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are engaged in, another agreement was signed to increase the capabilities of a felony fugitive warrant task force.

VCAT, or Violent Criminal Apprehension Team, was created by the Napolitano in May when she signed an executive order.

The program focuses on tracking down violent felons in the state, particularly those involved in the smuggling of drugs and people.

The Saturday signing extends the mission to target felons in Sonora, with DPS sharing information on felony warrants to include training Sonoran law enforcement officers on identification, apprehension and extradition of U.S. felons in Mexico. Sonoran officials will do the same, to return Mexican felons who are in the U.S.

Her take on Arizona and international aspects also reached out to national politics.

When it comes to the Democratic presumptive candidate for president, Barack Obama, Napolitano said she finds it interesting that he is only 10 percentage points behind the presumed Republican candidate John McCain in Arizona.

That the Illinois senator is so close to the Arizona senator implies that McCain will have to work hard to take the state where he lives.

And, that 34 percent of voters in Arizona recently polled are undecided between the two is a large number, meaning both men will have to work diligently for their votes, she said.

Although no plans have been finalized, Napolitano, said she expects he will campaign in Arizona.

As for the whispers that she might be picked to serve in Obama’s administration if he is elected, Napolitano said her plans are to continue to serve as governor.

However, when asked if Obama wants her to serve in some capacity in his administration, the governor said, “I’m not going to talk about that.”