SENATE BILL 191

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

INTRODUCED BY

George K. Mu oz

 

 

 

 

 

AN ACT

RELATING TO OFF-HIGHWAY MOTOR VEHICLES; AMENDING SECTION 66-3-1001.1 NMSA 1978 (BEING LAWS 2005, CHAPTER 325, SECTION 1, AS AMENDED); AMENDING DEFINITIONS.

 

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

     SECTION 1. Section 66-3-1001.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2005, Chapter 325, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:

     "66-3-1001.1. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Act:

          A. "board" means the off-highway motor vehicle advisory board;

          B. "department" means the department of game and fish;

          C. "division" means the motor vehicle division of the taxation and revenue department;

          D. "fund" means the trail safety fund;

          E. "off-highway motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle designed by the manufacturer for operation exclusively off the highway or road and includes:

                (1) "all-terrain vehicle", which means a motor vehicle fifty inches or less in width, having an unladen dry weight of one thousand pounds or less, traveling on three or more [low-pressure] non-highway tires and having a seat designed to be straddled by the operator and handlebar-type steering control;

                (2) "off-highway motorcycle", which means a motor vehicle traveling on not more than two tires and having a seat designed to be straddled by the operator and that has handlebar-type steering control;

                (3) "snowmobile", which means a motor vehicle designed for travel on snow or ice and steered and supported in whole or in part by skis, belts, cleats, runners or low-pressure tires;

                (4) "recreational off-highway vehicle", which means a motor vehicle designed for travel on four or more non-highway tires, for recreational use by one or more persons, and having:

                     (a) a steering wheel for steering control;

                     (b) non-straddle seating;

                     (c) maximum speed capability greater than thirty-five miles per hour;

                     (d) [gross vehicle] unladen dry weight [rating] of no greater than [one thousand seven hundred fifty] three thousand five hundred pounds;

                     (e) less than eighty inches in overall width, exclusive of accessories; and

                     [(f) engine displacement of less than one thousand cubic centimeters; and

                     (g)] (f) identification by means of a seventeen-character vehicle identification number; or

                (5) by rule of the department, any other vehicles that may enter the market that fit the general profile of vehicles operated off the highway for recreational purposes;

          F. "staging area" means a parking lot, trailhead or other location to or from which an off-highway motor vehicle is transported so that it may be placed into operation or removed from operation; and

          G. "unpaved public roadway" means a dirt graveled street or road that is constructed, signed and maintained for regular passenger-car use by the general public."

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