SENATE BILL 377

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2025

INTRODUCED BY

Antonio Maestas

 

 

 

 

 

AN ACT

RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLES; ENACTING A NEW SECTION OF THE MOTOR VEHICLE CODE TO CREATE A NEW MEXICO UNITED SPECIAL REGISTRATION PLATE; ESTABLISHING CRITERIA FOR A CESSATION OF ISSUANCE; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.

 

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

     SECTION 1. A new section of the Motor Vehicle Code is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] SPECIAL NEW MEXICO UNITED REGISTRATION PLATE.--

          A. The division shall issue a standardized New Mexico united special registration plate that indicates that the owner of the vehicle is a supporter of the New Mexico united soccer team. The plate shall have a logo designed pursuant to Section 66-3-424 NMSA 1978 and shall use a format similar to the format the division uses on its chile vehicle registration plates with the registration numbers and letters in yellow on a field of black.

          B. For an initial fee of fifty dollars ($50.00), which shall be in addition to the regular motor vehicle registration fees, the owner of a vehicle may apply for issuance of a New Mexico united special registration plate. The vehicle owner shall pay a renewal fee of twenty dollars ($20.00) each year to retain and renew the New Mexico united special registration plate.

          C. The revenue from the additional fee for a New Mexico united special registration plate shall be distributed as follows:

                (1) twelve dollars ($12.00) of the initial fee collected shall be retained by and is appropriated to the department to defray the cost of making and issuing the special registration plate; and

                 (2) thirty-eight dollars ($38.00) of the initial registration fee and the entire twenty dollars ($20.00) of subsequent renewal fees shall be distributed and are appropriated to the tourism department to promote sports- related tourism.

          D. Beginning on July 1, 2028, and on July 1 of each subsequent year, the department shall compare the number of New Mexico united special registration plates issued or registration renewals for those plates in the previous fiscal year with the average of the number of those plates issued in fiscal years 2026 and 2027.

          E. Beginning in fiscal year 2029, by September 1 of a fiscal year in which the department determines that the number of New Mexico united special registration plates issued or registration renewals for those plates in the previous fiscal year is less than fifty percent of the average number of those plates issued in fiscal years 2026 and 2027, the department shall stop issuing New Mexico united special registration plates."

     SECTION 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2025.

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