46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2003

RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLES; AUTHORIZING COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS FOR EXCHANGE OF MOTOR VEHICLE OFFENSE INFORMATION BETWEEN THE NAVAJO NATION AND THE STATE.

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

Section 1. Section 66-1-4.6 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1990, Chapter 120, Section 7, as amended) is amended to read:

"66-1-4.6. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Motor Vehicle Code:

A. "farm tractor" means every motor vehicle designed and used primarily as a farm implement for drawing plows, mowing machines and other implements of husbandry;

B. "financial responsibility" means the ability to respond in damages for liability resulting from traffic accidents arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle of a type subject to registration under the laws of New Mexico, in amounts not less than specified in the Mandatory Financial Responsibility Act or having in effect a motor vehicle insurance policy. "Financial responsibility" includes a motor vehicle insurance policy, a surety bond or evidence of a sufficient cash deposit with the state treasurer;

C. "first offender" means a person who for the first time under state or federal law or a municipal ordinance or by the Navajo Nation tribal court has been adjudicated guilty of the charge of driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any other drug that renders the person incapable of safely driving a motor vehicle, regardless of whether the person's sentence was suspended or deferred;

D. "flammable liquid" means any liquid that has a flash point of seventy degrees fahrenheit or less, as determined by a tagliabue or equivalent closed-cup test device;

E. "foreign jurisdiction" means any jurisdiction other than a state of the United States or the District of Columbia;

F. "foreign vehicle" means every vehicle of a type required to be registered under the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Code brought into this state from another state, territory or country; and

G. "freight trailer" means any trailer, semitrailer or pole trailer drawn by a truck tractor or road tractor, and any trailer, semitrailer or pole trailer drawn by a truck that has a gross vehicle weight of more than twenty-six thousand pounds, but "freight trailer" does not include manufactured homes, trailers of less than one-ton carrying capacity used to transport animals or fertilizer trailers of less than three thousand five hundred pounds empty weight."

Section 2. Section 66-1-4.16 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1990, Chapter 120, Section 17, as amended) is amended to read:

"66-1-4.16. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Motor Vehicle Code:

A. "safety glazing materials" means glazing materials so constructed, treated or combined with other materials as to reduce substantially, in comparison with ordinary sheet glass or plate glass, the likelihood of injury to persons by objects from exterior sources or by these safety glazing materials when they are cracked and broken;

B. "safety zone" means the area or space officially set apart within a highway for the exclusive use of pedestrians and which is protected or is so marked or indicated by adequate signs as to be plainly visible at all times while set apart as a safety zone;

C. "school bus" means any motor vehicle operating under the authority of the state board of education or private school or parochial school interests that is used to transport children, students or teachers to and from schools or to and from any school activity, but not including any vehicle:

(1) operated by a common carrier, subject to and meeting all requirements of the [state corporation] public regulation commission but not used exclusively for the transportation of pupils;

(2) operated solely by a government-owned transit authority, if the transit authority meets all safety requirements of the [state corporation] public regulation commission but is not used exclusively for the transportation of pupils; or

(3) operated as a per capita feeder as defined in Section 22-16-6 NMSA 1978;

D. "seal" means the official seal of the taxation and revenue department as designated by the secretary;

E. "secretary" means the secretary of taxation and revenue, and, except for the purposes of Sections 66-2-3

[66-2-3.1] and 66-2-12 NMSA 1978, also includes the deputy secretary and any division director delegated by the secretary;

F. "semitrailer" means any vehicle without motive power, other than a pole trailer, designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle and so constructed that some significant part of its weight and that of its load rests upon or is carried by another vehicle;

G. "sidewalk" means that portion of street between the curb lines, or the lateral lines of a roadway, and the adjacent property lines, intended for the use of pedestrians;

H. "slow-moving vehicle" means any vehicle that is ordinarily moved, operated or driven at a speed less than twenty-five miles per hour;

I. "solid tire" means every tire of rubber or other resilient material that does not depend upon compressed air for the support of the load;

J. "special mobile equipment" means every vehicle not designed or used primarily for the transportation of persons or property and incidentally operated or moved over the highways, including but not limited to farm tractors, road construction or maintenance machinery, ditch-digging apparatus, well-boring apparatus and concrete mixers;

K. "specially-constructed vehicle" means every vehicle of a type required to be registered under the Motor Vehicle Code not originally constructed under a distinctive name, make, model or type by a generally recognized manufacturer of vehicles and not materially altered from its original construction;

L. "state" means any state, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia or any province of the Dominion of Canada;

M. "state highway" means any public highway that has been designated as a state highway by the legislature, the state [highway] transportation commission or the secretary of highway and transportation;

N. "stop", when required, means complete cessation from movement;

O. "stop, stopping or standing", when prohibited, means any stopping or standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the directions of a police officer or traffic-control sign or signal;

P. "street" or "highway" means every way or place generally open to the use of the public as a matter of right for the purpose of vehicular travel, even though it may be temporarily closed or restricted for the purpose of construction, maintenance, repair or reconstruction;

Q. "subsequent offender" means a person who was previously a first offender and who again, under state law, federal law or a municipal ordinance or by the Navajo Nation tribal court, has been adjudicated guilty of the charge of driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug which rendered him incapable of safely driving a motor vehicle, regardless of whether the person's sentence was suspended or deferred; and

R. "suspension" means that a person's driver's license and privilege to drive a motor vehicle on the public highways are temporarily withdrawn."

Section 3. A new section of the Motor Vehicle Code, Section 66-5-27.1 NMSA 1978, is enacted to read:

"66-5-27.1. [NEW MATERIAL] RECOGNITION OF CONVICTIONS FOR MOTOR VEHICLE OFFENSES COMMITTED ON THE NAVAJO NATION--COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS--INFORMATION SHARING WITH THE NAVAJO NATION TRIBAL COURT.

A. The department is authorized to enter into a cooperative agreement with the appropriate governmental entity of the Navajo Nation to permit the exchange of information between the Navajo Nation tribal court and the division regarding state residents who are adjudicated for a motor vehicle offense that occurred within the jurisdiction of the Navajo Nation tribal court.

B. The division is authorized to suspend or revoke the driver's license or driving privilege of a resident of the state who has been convicted of a motor vehicle offense by the Navajo Nation tribal court; provided that:

(1) the department has entered into a cooperative agreement with the governing body of the Navajo Nation that permits the exchange of information on motor vehicle offense convictions between the Navajo Nation tribal court and the division; and

(2) the division has received notice from the Navajo Nation tribal court that the driver has been convicted of a motor vehicle offense, which if committed within the jurisdiction of the state would be grounds for suspension or revocation of the driver's license or driving privilege of the offender."

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