HOUSE BILL 176
52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2016
INTRODUCED BY
David M. Gallegos and Michael Padilla
AN ACT
RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLES; MAKING A DEFINITION FOR "NATURAL GAS VEHICLES"; INCREASING THE WEIGHT LIMIT FOR NATURAL GAS VEHICLES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 66-1-4.12 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1990, Chapter 120, Section 13, as amended) is amended to read:
"66-1-4.12. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Motor Vehicle Code:
A. "natural gas vehicle" means a vehicle operated by an engine that primarily uses natural gas;
[A.] B. "neighborhood electric car" means a
four-wheeled electric motor vehicle that has a maximum speed of more than twenty miles per hour but less than twenty-five miles per hour and complies with the federal requirements specified in 49 CFR 571.500;
[B.] C. "nonrepairable vehicle" means a vehicle of a type otherwise subject to registration that:
(1) has no resale value except as a source of parts or scrap metal or that the owner irreversibly designates as a source of parts or scrap metal or for destruction;
(2) has been substantially stripped as a result of theft or is missing all of the bolts on sheet metal body panels, all of the doors and hatches, substantially all of the interior components and substantially all of the grill and light assemblies and has little or no resale value other than its worth as a source of a vehicle identification number that could be used illegally; or
(3) is a substantially burned vehicle that has burned to the extent that there are no more usable or repairable body or interior components, tires and wheels or drive train components or that the owner irreversibly designates for destruction or as having little or no resale value other than its worth as a source of scrap metal or as a source of a vehicle identification number that could be used illegally;
[C.] D. "nonrepairable vehicle certificate" means a vehicle ownership document conspicuously labeled "NONREPAIRABLE" issued to the owner of the nonrepairable vehicle;
[D.] E. "nonresident" means every person who is not a resident of this state;
[E.] F. "nonresident commercial driver's license" means a commercial driver's license issued by another state to a person domiciled in that state or by a foreign country to a person domiciled in that country; and
[F.] G. "nonresident's operating privilege" means the privilege conferred upon a nonresident by the laws of this state pertaining to the operation by the nonresident of a motor vehicle, or the use of a motor vehicle owned by the nonresident, in this state."
SECTION 2. Section 66-7-409 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1978, Chapter 35, Section 480, as amended) is amended to read:
"66-7-409. LOAD LIMITS ON SINGLE AXLES, WHEELS AND TIRES.--
A. Except as provided by Subsection D of this section, the gross weight imposed on the highway by the wheels of any one axle of a vehicle shall not exceed twenty-one thousand six hundred pounds nor shall any one wheel carry a load in excess of eleven thousand pounds.
B. For the purposes of Sections 66-7-401 through 66-7-416 NMSA 1978, a single-axle load is defined as the total load transmitted to the road by all wheels whose centers are included between two parallel transverse vertical planes forty inches or less apart extending across the full width of the vehicle. A tandem axle load is defined as the total load transmitted to the road by all wheels whose centers are included between two parallel transverse vertical planes more than forty inches apart but less than one hundred twenty inches apart, extending across the full width of the vehicle. The allowed load on tandem axles shall not exceed the gross weight given in Section 66-7-410 NMSA 1978 for the respective distance between the axles.
C. No wheel equipped with pneumatic, solid rubber or cushion tires shall carry a load in excess of six hundred pounds for each inch of tire width. The width of pneumatic tires shall be taken at the manufacturer's rating. The width of solid rubber and cushion tires shall be measured at the flange of the rim.
D. The division shall by rule establish standard weight limits for the wheels of any one vehicle axle and any one wheel that allow for the gross weight limitation increases authorized for natural gas vehicles."
SECTION 3. Section 66-7-410 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1978, Chapter 35, Section 481, as amended) is amended to read:
"66-7-410. GROSS WEIGHT OF VEHICLES AND LOADS.--
A. Subject to the limit upon the weight imposed upon the highway through any one axle as set forth in Section
66-7-409 NMSA 1978 and except as provided in Subsection D of this section, the total gross weight with load imposed upon the highway by any one group of two or more consecutive axles of a vehicle or combination of vehicles shall not exceed the gross weight given for the respective distance between the first and last axle of the group of axles measured longitudinally to the nearest foot as set forth in the following table:
Distance in feet between first Allowed load in pounds
and last axles of group on group of axles
4 34,320
5 35,100
6 35,880
7 36,660
8 37,440
9 38,220
10 39,000
11 39,780
12 40,560
13 41,340
14 42,120
15 42,900
16 43,680
17 44,460
18 45,240.
B. Except as provided in Subsection D of this section, the total gross weight with load imposed on the highway by any vehicle or combination of vehicles where the distance between the first and last axles is more than eighteen feet shall not exceed that given for the respective distances in the following table:
Distance in feet between first Allowed load in pounds
and last axles of group on group of axles
19 53,100
20 54,000
21 54,900
22 55,800
23 56,700
24 57,600
25 58,500
26 59,400
27 60,300
28 61,200
29 62,100
30 63,000
31 63,900
32 64,800
33 65,700
34 66,600
35 67,500
36 68,400
37 69,300
38 70,200
39 71,100
40 72,000
41 72,900
42 73,800
43 74,700
44 75,600
45 76,500
46 77,400
47 78,300
48 79,200
49 80,100
50 81,000
51 81,900
52 82,800
53 83,700
54 84,600
55 85,500
56 or over 86,400.
C. The distance between the centers of the axles shall be measured to the nearest even foot. When a fraction is exactly one-half, the next larger whole number shall be used.
D. The total gross weight with load limitations imposed by this section for any vehicle or combination of vehicles shall be increased by:
(1) four hundred pounds if the vehicle or combination of vehicles uses idle reduction technology; or
(2) if the vehicle is a natural gas vehicle, a standard gross weight limit increase for each axle distance category in this section, established by the division by rule, by an amount equal to the difference between the average weight of the vehicle attributable to its natural gas tank and fuel system and the average weight of a comparable diesel tank and fuel system."
- 8 -