A week after Gov. Bill Richardson said publicly he would propose a bill to reform the State Investment Council, a powerful Democratic lawmaker on Wednesday essentially said put your money where your mouth is.

“In the state of the state to me the silence was deafening in regard to the state investment council and the problems there,” Sen. President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, said Wednesday.

A consultant’s report earlier this month recommended reducing Gov. Bill Richardson’s power over the agency, which is at the center of two federal investigations and a growing scandal.

Because it is the budget session, state lawmakers can’t take up topics outside the state’s finances unless Richardson puts them on the session agenda. He does that through executive messages to the state House and state Senate.

Jennings said the governor’s office hadn’t sent a message yet and state lawmakers can’t begin to tackle the important subject without the governor adding it to the session agenda.

“It can’t happen unless he sends a message,” Jennings said. “This governor should be challenged enough to where this governor should send a message tomorrow and not wait until … It should be here now. It should have already been here.”

A perusal of all the governor’s messages to both legislative chambers Wednesday revealed nothing that authorized lawmakers to consider legislation reforming the State Investment Council.

Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said he didn’t know if such a message had been sent. He also declined to respond to Jennings’ criticisms of the governor.