SENATE BILL 201

56th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2024

INTRODUCED BY

Steven P. Neville and Peter Wirth

 

 

 

 

 

AN ACT

RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION; CLARIFYING DUTIES FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION RELATED TO THE REGULATION OF RAILWAY COMPANIES, TRANSPORTATION NETWORK COMPANIES AND MOTOR CARRIERS; CHANGING THE APPEALS PROCESS BY MAKING DEPARTMENT DECISIONS APPEALABLE TO DISTRICT COURT; UPDATING DEFINITIONS AND OTHER PROVISIONS OF THE MOTOR CARRIER ACT; REPEALING SECTIONS OF THE NMSA 1978 RELATING TO CARRIER INSPECTION FEES.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 65-2A-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003, Chapter 359, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

     "65-2A-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Motor Carrier Act:

          A. "ability to provide certificated service" means that an applicant or carrier can provide reasonably continuous and adequate transportation service of the type required by its application or its operating authority in the territory authorized or sought to be authorized;

          B. "ambulance service" means the intrastate transportation of sick or injured persons in an ambulance meeting the standards established by the department under the Ambulance Standards Act;

          C. "amendment of a certificate" means a permanent change in the type or nature of service, territory or terms of service authorized by an existing certificate;

          D. "antitrust laws" means the laws of this state relating to combinations in restraint of trade;

          E. "base state" means the registration state for an interstate motor carrier that either is subject to regulation or is transporting commodities exempt from regulation by the federal motor carrier safety administration pursuant to the unified carrier registration system;

          F. "cancellation of an operating authority" means the voluntary, permanent termination of all or part of an operating authority;

          G. "certificate" means the authority issued by the department to a person that authorizes the person to offer and provide a certificated service as a motor carrier;

          H. "certificated service" means one of the following transportation services:

                (1) an ambulance service;

                (2) a household goods service;

                (3) a shuttle service;

                (4) a specialized passenger service; or

                (5) a taxicab service;

          I. "change in a certificate" means the voluntary amendment, cancellation, change in form of legal entity of the holder, lease, reinstatement, transfer or voluntary suspension of a certificate;

          J. "charter service" means the compensated transportation of a group of persons in a motor vehicle who, pursuant to a common purpose, under a single contract, at a fixed charge for the motor vehicle and driver, have acquired the exclusive use of the motor vehicle to travel together under an itinerary either specified in advance or modified after having left the place of origin;

          K. "commuter service" means the intrastate transportation of passengers in motor vehicles having a capacity of seven to fifteen persons, including the driver, provided to a volunteer-driver commuter group that shares rides to and from the workplace or training site, where participation is incidental to the primary work or training-related purposes of the commuter group, and where the fees paid by the participants do not exceed the costs for transportation, including gas and other trip-related expenses;

          L. "compliance unit" means the designated unit within the department tasked with conducting administrative activities necessary to implement and enforce the provisions of the Motor Carrier Act;

          [L.] M. "continuous and adequate service" means:

                (1) for full-service carriers, reasonably continuous availability, offering and provision of transportation services through motor vehicles, equipment and resources satisfying safety and financial responsibility requirements under the Motor Carrier Act and department rule, that are reasonably adequate to serve the entire full-service territory authorized in the certificate, with reasonable response to all requests for service for the nature of passenger service authorized, based on the nature of public need, expense and volume of demand for the type of service authorized during seasonal periods; and

                (2) for general-service carriers, reasonably continuous availability and offering of transportation services through motor vehicles, equipment and resources satisfying safety and financial responsibility requirements under the Motor Carrier Act and department rule for the nature of the transportation service authorized in the certificate;

          [M.] N. "contract driver" means a person who contracts with a motor carrier as an independent contractor to drive a vehicle pursuant to an operating authority issued to the motor carrier;

          [N.] O. "department" means the department of transportation;

          [O.] P. "endorsement" means the specification in a certificate of the territory in which the carrier is authorized to operate, the nature of service to be provided by a certificated passenger service and any additional terms of service that may be reasonably granted or required by the department for the particular authority granted;

          [P.] Q. "fare" means the full compensation charged for transportation by a tariffed passenger service;

          [Q.] R. "financial responsibility" means the ability to respond in damages for liability arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle in the provision of transportation services;

          [R.] S. "fitness to provide a transportation service" means that an applicant or carrier complies with state law as provided in the Motor Carrier Act or by rule of the department;

          [S.] T. "for hire" means that transportation is offered or provided to the public for remuneration, compensation or reward of any kind, paid or promised, either directly or indirectly;

          [T.] U. "full service" means one of the following certificated passenger services that are endorsed and required to meet specific standards for the provision of service to or throughout a community:

                (1) an ambulance service;

                (2) a scheduled shuttle service; or

                (3) a municipal taxicab service;

          [U.] V. "general service" means one of the following certificated services that provides transportation services of the type authorized, but is not required to provide unprofitable or marginally profitable carriage:

                (1) a general shuttle service;

                (2) a general taxicab service;

                (3) a specialized passenger service; or

                (4) a household goods service;

          [V.] W. "highway" means a way or place generally open to the use of the public as a matter of right for the purpose of vehicular travel, even though it may be temporarily closed or restricted for the purpose of construction, maintenance, repair or reconstruction;

          [W.] X. "holder of an operating authority" means the grantee of the operating authority or a person that currently holds all or part of the right to exercise the authority through a transfer by operation of law;

          [X.] Y. "household goods" means personal effects and property used or to be used in a dwelling when a part of the equipment or supply of the dwelling and other similar property as the federal motor carrier safety administration may provide by regulation, but shall not include property moving to or from a factory or store, other than property the householder has purchased to use in the householder's dwelling that is transported at the request of, and the transportation charges are paid to the carrier by, the householder;

          [Y.] Z. "household goods service" means the intrastate transportation, packing and storage of household goods for hire;

          [Z.] AA. "interested person" means a motor carrier operating in the territory involved in an application or grant of temporary authority, a person affected by an order of the department or a rule proposed for adoption by the department or a person the department may deem interested in a particular matter;

          [AA.] BB. "interstate motor carrier" means a person providing compensated transportation in interstate commerce, whether or not the person is subject to regulation by the federal motor carrier safety administration;

          [BB.] CC. "intrastate motor carrier" means a motor carrier offering or providing transportation for hire by motor vehicle between points and places in the state;

          [CC.] DD. "involuntary suspension" means the temporary cessation of use of all or part of an operating authority ordered by the department for cause for a stated period of time or pending compliance with certain conditions;

          [DD.] EE. "lease of a certificate" means an agreement by which the holder of a certificate grants to another person the exclusive right to use all or part of the certificate for a specified period of time in exchange for consideration, but does not include an agreement between a motor carrier and its contract driver;

          [EE.] FF. "lease of equipment" means an agreement whereby a motor carrier obtains equipment owned by another person for use by the motor carrier in the exercise of its operating authority; [but does not include an agreement between a motor carrier and its contract driver;

          FF.] GG. "motor carrier" or "carrier" means a person offering or providing transportation of persons, property or household goods for hire by motor vehicle, whether in intrastate or interstate commerce;

          [GG.] HH. "motor carrier organization" means an organization approved by the department to represent motor carriers and to discuss and propose industry interests and matters other than rates, as well as discussing and proposing rates and other matters pertaining to statewide tariffs;

          [HH.] II. "motor vehicle" or "vehicle" means a vehicle, machine, tractor, trailer or semitrailer propelled or drawn by mechanical power and used on a highway in the transportation of property, household goods or persons, but does not include a vehicle, locomotive or car operated exclusively on rails;

          [II.] JJ. "nature of service" means the type of transportation service to be provided by a certificated passenger service as set forth in Subsection A of Section 65-2A-8 NMSA 1978;

          [JJ.] KK. "nonconsensual tow" means the compensated transportation of a motor vehicle by a towing service, if such transportation is performed at the request of a law enforcement officer or without the prior consent or authorization of the owner or operator of the motor vehicle;  

          [KK.] LL. "notice period" means the period of time specified in Section 65-2A-6 NMSA 1978; [following publication of notice during which the department may not act;

          LL.] MM. "objection" means a document filed with the department by an interested person or a member of the public during the notice period for an application for a certificate, or for amendment, lease or transfer of a certificate, that expresses an objection to, or provides information concerning, the matter before the department;

          [MM.] NN. "operating authority" means a certificate, warrant, unified carrier registration or temporary authority issued by the department to a motor carrier;

          [NN.] OO. "passenger" means a person other than the driver of a motor vehicle transported in a motor vehicle;

          [OO.] PP. "passenger service" means a transportation service offered or provided for the transportation of passengers by motor vehicle;

          [PP.] QQ. "predatory rate or practice" means the knowing and willful requirement by a carrier that a passenger or shipper pay a rate, fare or other charge in excess of the rates and charges or in a manner other than in accordance with terms of service as provided by law, as provided in a tariff governing the carrier or as provided in a preexisting written contract regarding the carriage, when such charge is made:

                (1) by a passenger carrier as a prior conditi