AN ACT

RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION; INCLUDING TAXICAB SERVICES AND TERMINAL SHUTTLE SERVICE AS NON-EXEMPT INTRASTATE BUSINESSES; AMENDING SECTIONS OF THE NMSA 1978.

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

Section 1. Section 65-2-82 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1981, Chapter 358, Section 3, as amended by Laws 2001, Chapter 245, Section 3 and by Laws 2001, Chapter 259, Section 1) is amended to read:

"65-2-82. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Motor Carrier Act:

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

B. "broker" means a person not included in the term "motor carrier" and not a bona fide employee or agent of any motor carrier who, as principal or agent, sells or offers for sale any transportation subject to the Motor Carrier Act or negotiates for or holds himself out by solicitation, advertisement or otherwise as one who sells, provides, furnishes, contracts or arranges for that transportation;

C. "certificate" means a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued under authority of the laws of the state to common motor carriers;

D. "clerk" or "chief clerk" means the chief clerk of the public regulation commission;

E. "commission" means the public regulation commission;

F. "common motor carrier" means a person who undertakes, whether directly or indirectly or by lease of equipment or operating rights or any other arrangement, to transport persons or property or any class of property for the general public by motor vehicle for compensation, whether over regular or irregular routes and under scheduled or nonscheduled service, but does not include farm carriers and does not include commuter vanpools;

G. "commuter vanpool" means a volunteer-driver commuter group that operates a vanpool that utilizes a seven- to fifteen-passenger vehicle to share rides to and from the workplace or training site; where participation is open to the public and incidental to the primary work- or training-related purposes of the individuals in the group; and where the volunteer drivers determine the daily vanpool route, have no employer-employee relationship with the vanpool operator and generally begin their vanpool driving duties at their home and end at the individual workplace or training site;

H. "contract motor carrier" means a person not a common motor carrier who, under individual contracts or agreements and whether directly or indirectly or by lease of equipment or operating rights or any other arrangements, transports persons or property by motor vehicle for compensation, but does not include farm carriers;

I. "farm carrier" means a motor vehicle registered in this state being used in the transportation for hire of a cargo consisting of one or several of the following: farm produce, including grains, cotton, cottonseed, vegetables, hay and other farm products; livestock feed; livestock; stock salt; manure; wire; posts; dairy products; and farm or ranch machinery except tractors weighing more than forty-five thousand pounds;

J. "highway" means the public roads, highways, streets and ways in this state;

K. "household goods" means:

(1) 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 commission may provide by rule; except that this paragraph shall not be construed to include property moving from a factory or store, except property as the householder has purchased with intent to use in his dwelling and that is transported at the request of, and the transportation charges paid to the carrier by, the householder;

(2) furniture, fixtures, equipment and the property of stores, offices, museums, institutions, hospitals or other establishments when a part of the stock, equipment or supply of stores, offices, museums, institutions, hospitals or other establishments and other similar property as the commission may provide by rule; except that this paragraph shall not be construed to include the stock-in-trade of any establishment, whether consignor or consignee, other than used furniture and used fixtures, except when transported as incidental to the moving of the establishment, or a portion of it, from one location to another; and

(3) articles, including objects of art, displays and exhibits, that, because of their unusual nature or value, require the specialized handling and equipment usually employed in moving household goods and other similar articles as the commission may provide by rule; except that this paragraph shall not be construed to include any article, whether crated or uncrated, that does not, because of its unusual nature or value, require the specialized handling and equipment usually employed in moving household goods;

L. "interested parties" shall in all cases include all carriers operating over the routes or any part thereof or in the territory involved in an application for a certificate or permit or an application to file or change a schedule of rates, charges or fares or a rule or practice, and other parties as the commission may deem interested in the particular matter;

M. "irregular route" means a course to be used by a motor carrier that is not restricted to any specific highway within the area the motor carrier is authorized to serve;

N. "lease" means an arrangement whereby a motor carrier augments his equipment by use of equipment owned by others;

O. "license" means a license issued pursuant to the Motor Carrier Act to a broker;

P. "motor carrier" includes common motor carriers, contract motor carriers and any person performing for-hire transportation service without authority from the commission and farm carriers;

Q. "motor vehicle" means a vehicle, machine, tractor, trailer or semi-trailer propelled or drawn by mechanical power and used upon the highways in the transportation of property or persons, but does not include any vehicle, locomotive or car operated exclusively on rail or rails;

R. "permit" means a permit issued under authority of the laws of this state to contract motor carriers;

S. "person" means an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association or organization and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee or personal representative thereof;

T. "regular route" means a fixed, specific and determined course to be traveled by a motor carrier's vehicles rendering service to, from or between various points, localities or municipalities in this state;

U. the "services" and "transportation" to which the Motor Carrier Act applies include all vehicles operated by, for or in the interest of any motor carrier irrespective of ownership or of contract, express or implied, together with all facilities and property controlled by any motor carrier and used in the transportation of persons or property or in the performance of any service in connection therewith;

V. "shipper" means a person who consigns or receives goods for transportation;

W. "single-line rate" means a rate, charge or allowance proposed by a single common motor carrier of property that is applicable only over its line and for which the transportation can be provided by that common motor carrier;

X. "state" means New Mexico;

Y. "taxicab service" means a common motor carrier engaged in unscheduled passenger transportation in a motor vehicle having a capacity of not more than eight passengers, including the driver, not operated on a regular route or between specified places, and that:

(1) is licensed as a taxicab by a state or a local jurisdiction; or

(2) if not licensed or regulated by a state or local jurisdiction as a taxicab service, is offered by a person that:

(a) provides local transportation for a fare determined, except with respect to transportation to or from airport, train or bus terminals, primarily on the basis of the distance traveled; and

(b) does not primarily provide transportation to or from one or more airport, train or bus terminals;

Z. "terminal shuttle service" means a common motor carrier engaged in passenger transportation service that:

(1) is:

(a) pre-arranged by contract; or

(b) operated for hire on a regular route, allowing for deviation to pick up or drop off passengers, between specified or generally specified points; and

(2) primarily provides transportation to or from one or more airport, train or bus terminals but may also provide for intermediate pickup and departure of passengers;

AA. "towing company" means a common motor carrier engaged in transporting for hire disabled or abandoned motor vehicles by means of a tow truck or flatbed vehicle carrier; and

BB. "weight-bumping" means the knowing and willful making or securing of a fraudulent weight on a shipment of household goods that is subject to the jurisdiction of the commission under the Motor Carrier Act."

Section 2. Section 65-2-83 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1981, Chapter 358, Section 4, as amended) is amended to read:

"65-2-83. POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMISSION.--The commission is vested with power and authority, and it is its duty to:

A. regulate common motor carriers as provided in the Motor Carrier Act, and to that end, the commission shall establish reasonable requirements with respect to continuous and adequate service and shall establish reasonable requirements with respect to uniform systems of accounts, records and reports and preservation of records;

B. regulate contract motor carriers as provided in the Motor Carrier Act, and to that end, the commission shall establish reasonable requirements with respect to uniform systems of accounts, records and reports and preservation of records;

C. regulate, as intrastate services, taxicab services and terminal shuttle services, including those that may operate in part between this state and other states; provided that the service provides, with regard to any service run, for both:

(1) initiation of the transportation of one or more passengers within this state; and

(2) delivery to a departure point within this state of one or more passengers whose transportation on that service run was initiated at a point within this state;

D. regulate brokers as provided in the Motor Carrier Act, and to that end, the commission shall establish reasonable requirements with respect to licensing, financial responsibility, accounts, records, reports, operations and practices of any such person;

E. prescribe rules, regulations and procedures for the administration of the Motor Carrier Act, to make all necessary orders and do all things necessary to administer, execute, carry out and enforce the provisions of that act, except those powers set forth in Section 65-1-6 NMSA 1978; and

F. prescribe rules and procedures for default proceedings. In the event no protest or intervention is filed by a party within thirty (30) days of the date of notice to parties required to be notified by statute and to such other persons as the commission shall direct, a default proceeding may be held at any time thereafter pursuant to rules and procedures promulgated pursuant to this subsection."

Section 3. Section 65-2-115 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1981, Chapter 358, Section 36, as amended) is amended to read:

"65-2-115. INTERSTATE CARRIERS--CERTIFICATE OF REGISTRATION--PROCEDURE.--

A. No common or contract motor carrier engaged exclusively in interstate commerce shall operate for the transportation of persons or property for hire upon any public highway in this state without first either obtaining from the commission a certificate of registration under the provisions of this section or complying with the provisions of Section 65‑2-115.1 NMSA 1978, as directed by the commission.

B. The certificate of registration shall be issued to interstate carriers, as a matter of course, upon proper application being made and shall designate the route and type of service specified in the application. No certificate of registration shall authorize the holder to engage in whole or in part as a common or contract motor carrier in intrastate business within this state or to engage in any business or operate over any route not specified in the certificate of registration. The certificate of registration shall become void unless the applicant to which it is granted begins operations within thirty days from the date the certificate of registration is issued and shall become void if the service is thereafter discontinued or unless in either event an extension is granted upon proper showing by order of the commission. A taxicab service or terminal shuttle service is engaged in non-exempt intrastate business within the state, regardless of any prior exemption, if its service provides, with regard to any service run, for both:

(1) initiation of the transportation of one or more passengers within this state; and

(2) delivery to a departure point within this state of one or more passengers whose transportation on that service run was initiated at a point within this state.

C. The commission shall adopt rules prescribing the manner and form in which interstate motor carriers shall apply for certificates of registration but the application shall be in writing and sworn to and shall show: the name and address of the applicant and, if a corporation, the names of its officers and directors and their addresses; the entire route within this state over which the applicant desires to operate; the kind of transportation, whether passenger or freight or both, in which the applicant proposes to engage together with a brief description of each vehicle which the applicant intends to use, including the seating capacity if for passenger traffic or the tonnage capacity if for freight; a specification of the proposed schedule, the proposed rate schedule or schedules of rates for transportation or for services in connection therewith; and other information as the commission may require covering observance of New Mexico state police regulations and payment of license taxes and fees.

D. This certificate of registration shall be subject to all the motor carrier provisions of the revised Interstate Commerce Act, as amended, Subtitle 4, Title 49, United States Code."

Section 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2003.