2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 65 - Motor Carriers › Article 2A - Motor Carrier Act › Section 65-2A-19 - Safety requirements for motor vehicles and drivers. (Effective July 1, 2024.)

A. A motor carrier shall provide safe and adequate service, equipment and facilities for the rendition of transportation services in this state.
B. The department shall prescribe safety requirements for drivers and for motor vehicles weighing twenty-six thousand pounds or less or carrying fifteen or fewer persons, including the driver, used by intrastate motor carriers operating in this state. The department may prescribe additional requirements related to safety, including driver safety training programs, vehicle preventive maintenance programs, inquiries regarding the safety of the motor vehicles and drivers employed by a motor carrier, and the appropriateness of the motor vehicles and equipment for the transportation services to be provided by the motor carrier.
C. The New Mexico state police division of the department of public safety may immediately order, without notice or a public hearing, a motor vehicle to be taken out of service for violation of a federal or state law or rule relating to safety if the violation would endanger the public health or safety.
D. The department shall implement rules requiring carriers to obtain criminal background reports for all employed or contract drivers of certificated service carriers and for all other persons employed by certificated household goods service carriers who enter private dwellings in the course of household goods service.
History:
Laws 2003, ch. 359, § 19; 2013, ch. 73, § 17; 2013, ch. 77, § 17; 2017, ch. 109, § 3; 2023, ch. 100, § 45.
ANNOTATIONS
The 2023 amendment,
effective July 1, 2024, removed references to the public regulation commission due to the transfer of certain powers and duties to the department of transportation; and changed each occurrence of "commission" to "department" throughout the section.
Temporary provisions.
— Laws 2023, ch. 100, § 80, effective July 1, 2024, provided that:
A. On July 1, 2024, all staff positions, functions, personnel, appropriations, money, records, equipment, supplies, other property and contractual obligations of the public regulation commission related to motor carrier regulation and enforcement, railroad safety enforcement and ambulance standards are transferred to the department of transportation.
B. Beginning July 1, 2024, all references in law, rules, orders and other official acts to the public regulation commission or the transportation division of the public regulation commission related to motor carrier regulation and enforcement, railroad safety enforcement and ambulance standards shall be deemed references to the department of transportation.
C. Beginning July 1, 2024, all contractual obligations of the public regulation commission related to motor carrier regulation and enforcement, railroad safety enforcement and ambulance standards are binding on the department of transportation.
D. The rules, orders and decisions of the public regulation commission related to motor carrier regulation and enforcement, railroad safety enforcement and ambulance standards shall remain in effect until repealed or amended.