2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 66 - Motor Vehicles › Article 3 - Registration Laws; Security Interests; Anti-Theft Provisions; Bicycles; Equipment; Unsafe Vehicles; Off-Highway Motor Vehicles; Other Vehicles › Part 1 - REGISTRATION, CERTIFICATES OF TITLE AND REGISTRATION PLATES GENERALLY › Section 66-3-16 - Distinctive registration plates; persons with significant mobility limitation; parking placard.

A. The division shall issue distinctive registration plates for use on motor vehicles and motorcycles owned or leased by a person with a significant mobility limitation who requests a distinctive registration plate and who proves satisfactorily to the division that the person is a person with a significant mobility limitation.
B. The division shall issue a distinctive parking placard to an organization that owns or leases a motor vehicle that primarily transports persons with significant mobility limitations and that requests a distinctive parking placard. The organization, if qualified, may obtain a distinctive parking placard for each vehicle used to transport persons with significant mobility limitations.
C. No fee in addition to the regular registration fee, if any, applicable to the motor vehicle or motorcycle shall be collected for issuance of distinctive registration plates or parking placards pursuant to this section.
D. No person shall falsely claim to have a significant mobility limitation so as to be eligible to be issued a distinctive registration plate or a parking placard pursuant to this section when the person does not in fact have a significant mobility limitation. Upon notice and opportunity to be heard, the division may revoke and demand return of any placard when:
(1) it was issued in error or with false information;
(2) the person receiving the placard is no longer eligible;
(3) the placard is being used by ineligible persons; or
(4) the organization to which the parking placard was issued no longer exists.
E. Upon written application to the division accompanied by a medical statement by a licensed physician or a physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse or certified nurse-midwife working within that person's scope of practice attesting to the permanent significant mobility limitation, a resident of the state who has a significant mobility limitation, as provided in this section, may apply for and be issued no more than two parking placards for display upon a motor vehicle registered to the person or motor vehicle owned by another person who is transporting the person with a significant mobility limitation. The licensed physician or the physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse or certified nurse-midwife working within that person's scope of practice shall provide the division all information and records necessary to issue a permanent parking placard. Once approved for use of a permanent parking placard, a person with a significant mobility limitation shall not be required to furnish further medical information.
F. To obtain a distinctive parking placard pursuant to this section, an organization shall submit to the division:
(1) on a form approved by the division, a signed statement by an authorized officer of the organization affirming that the vehicle will be primarily used to transport persons with significant mobility limitations and that the registered vehicle is owned or leased by the organization; and
(2) at least one contract that places the organization under obligation to provide transportation services to persons with significant mobility limitations.
G. A parking placard issued pursuant to this section shall expire four years from the date it was issued.
H. The division shall issue two-sided hanger-style parking placards with the following characteristics:
(1) a picture of the international symbol of access;
(2) a hologram to make duplication difficult;
(3) an imprinted expiration date; and
(4) for a placard issued to:
(a) a person with a significant mobility limitation, a full-face photograph of the holder on the inside of the placard covered by a flap; or
(b) an organization, the number of the registration plate issued to the vehicle that is registered or leased to the organization on which the placard will be used.
I. The division shall consult with the governor's commission on disability for continued issuance and format of the placard.
J. The division may issue an identification card containing a full-face photograph of the holder of the registration plate or parking placard and the number of the registration plate or parking placard issued to that person.
K. Upon written application to the division accompanied by a medical statement from a licensed physician or a physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse or certified nurse-midwife working within that person's scope of practice attesting to a temporary significant mobility limitation, a person may be issued a temporary placard for no more than one year. The licensed physician or the physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse or certified nurse-midwife working within that person's scope of practice shall provide the division all information and records necessary to issue a temporary placard.
L. Registration plates or parking placards issued to a person with a significant mobility limitation by another state or foreign jurisdiction shall be honored until the motor vehicle or motorcycle is registered or the parking placard holder establishes residency in this state.
M. A "person with a significant mobility limitation" means a person who:
(1) cannot walk one hundred feet without stopping to rest;
(2) cannot walk without the use of a brace, cane or crutch or without assistance from another person, a prosthetic device, a wheelchair or other assistive device;
(3) is restricted by lung disease to such an extent that the person's forced respiratory volume, when exhaling for one second, when measured by spirometry, is less than one liter or the arterial oxygen tension is less than sixty millimeters on room air at rest;
(4) uses portable oxygen;
(5) has a severe cardiac condition; or
(6) is so severely limited in the ability to walk due to an arthritic, neurologic or orthopedic condition that the person cannot ascend or descend more than ten stair steps.
History:
1953 Comp., § 64-3-16, enacted by Laws 1978, ch. 35, § 36; 1989, ch. 318, § 6; 1995, ch. 129, § 1; 1999, ch. 297, § 7; 2007, ch. 319, § 1; 2010, ch. 74, § 3; 2015, ch. 116, § 15; 2019, ch. 34, § 1.
ANNOTATIONS
Cross references.
— For special plates for private vehicles with respect to disabled persons,
see
66-3-406 NMSA 1978.
For parking privilege for passenger motor vehicle of disabled person,
see
3-51-46 NMSA 1978.
The 2019 amendment,
effective July 1, 2019, required the motor vehicle division to issue special distinctive registration placards, upon request, to an organization that owns or leases a vehicle that primarily transports persons with a significant mobility limitation; in the section heading, added "placards"; in Subsection A, after "motorcycles owned", added "or leased", and after "the division that the person", deleted "meets the standard provided in Subsection J of this section" and added "is a person with a significant mobility limitation"; added a new Subsection B, added new subsection designation "C", and redesignated former Subsections B and C as Subsections D and E, respectively; in Subsection C, after "registration plates", added "or parking placards"; in Subsection D, added Paragraph D(4); in Subsection E, after "The", added "licensed"; added a new Subsection F and redesignated former Subsections D through J as Subsections G through M, respectively; in Subsection H, Paragraph H(4), added "for a placard issued to", added subparagraph designation "(a)", in Subparagraph H(4)(a), added "a person with a significant mobility limitation", and added Subparagraph H(4)(b); and in Subsection K, after "The", added "licensed".
The 2015 amendment,
effective June 19, 2015, included other health care professionals with each reference to a licensed physician to attest to an individual's permanent significant mobility limitation when the individual is applying for a "significant mobility limitation" parking placard; in Subsection C, after "licensed physician", added "or a physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse or certified nurse-midwife working within that person's scope of practice", and after "The physician", added "or the physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse or certified nurse-midwife working within that person's scope of practice"; and in Subsection H, after "licensed physician", added "or a physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse or certified nurse-midwife working within that person's scope of practice", and after "The physician", added "or a physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse or certified nurse-midwife working within that person's scope of practice".
Temporary provisions.
— Laws 2015, ch. 116, § 16 provided that by January 1, 2016, every cabinet secretary, agency head and head of a political subdivision of the state shall update rules requiring an examination by, a certificate from or a statement of a licensed physician to also accept such examination, certificate or statement from an advanced practice registered nurse, certified nurse-midwife or physician assistant working within that person's scope of practice.
The 2010 amendment,
effective May 19, 2010, in Subsection A, in the first sentence after "Subsection", deleted "I" and added "J"; and in Subsection D, after "section shall expire", deleted "on the same date the person's license or identification card issued pursuant to Section 66-5-401 NMSA 1978 expires" and added the remainder of the sentence.
The 2007 amendment,
effective June 15, 2007, authorized the division to issue distinctive plates for motor vehicles and motorcycles owned by a person with significant mobility limitation if the person meets the standard of Subsection I; changed "disability" to "significant mobility limitation"; rewrote Paragraphs (2) through (4) of Subsection E; added Subsections F, G and J; and relettered Subsection F as Subsection H.
The 1999 amendment,
effective June 18, 1999, rewrote this section to the extent that a detailed comparison is impracticable.
The 1995 amendment,
effective July 1, 1995, substituted "disabled" for "so handicapped" in two places in the first sentence and added the remaining provisions in Subsection B, rewrote Subsection C, added Subsections D through G and I, redesignated former Subsection D as Subsection H, and in Subsection H, substituted "disabled person" for "handicapped" and "disabled operator" for "handicapped operator".
The 1989 amendment,
effective July 1, 1989, made minor stylistic changes in the last sentence of Subsection A; inserted "registration" in Subsection B; in Subsection C substituted "deposited in" for "submitted to the state treasurer to be covered into" and "66-6-23 NMSA 1978" for "64-6-23 NMSA 1953" in the last sentence; and added Subsection D.