HB0345

HOUSE BILL 345

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017

INTRODUCED BY

Roberto "Bobby" J. Gonzales

AN ACT

RELATING TO MOTOR CARRIER SERVICES; REMOVING APPLICABILITY OF THE MOTOR CARRIER ACT TO COMMUTER SERVICES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 65-2A-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003, Chapter 359, Section 3, as amended by Laws 2013, Chapter 73, Section 2 and by Laws 2013, Chapter 77, Section 2) is amended to read:

"65-2A-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Motor Carrier Act:

A. "ability to provide certificated service" means that an applicant or carrier can provide reasonably continuous and adequate transportation service of the type required by its application or its operating authority in the territory authorized or sought to be authorized;

B. "ambulance service" means the intrastate transportation of sick or injured persons in an ambulance meeting the standards established by the commission under the Ambulance Standards Act;

C. "amendment of a certificate or permit" means a permanent change in the type or nature of service, territory or terms of service authorized by an existing certificate or permit;

D. "antitrust laws" means the laws of this state relating to combinations in restraint of trade;

E. "base state" means the registration state for an interstate motor carrier that either is subject to regulation or is transporting commodities exempt from regulation by the federal motor carrier safety administration pursuant to the unified carrier registration system;

F. "cancellation of an operating authority" means the voluntary, permanent termination of all or part of an operating authority;

G. "certificate" means the authority issued by the commission to a person that authorizes the person to offer and provide a certificated service as a motor carrier;

H. "certificated service" means one of the following transportation services:

(1) an ambulance service;

(2) a household goods service;

(3) a shuttle service;

(4) a specialized passenger service; or

(5) a taxicab service;

I. "change in a certificate or permit" means the voluntary amendment, cancellation, change in form of legal entity of the holder, lease, reinstatement, transfer or voluntary suspension of a certificate or permit;

J. "charter service" means the compensated

transportation of a group of persons in a motor vehicle who,

pursuant to a common purpose, under a single contract, at a

fixed charge for the motor vehicle and driver, have acquired

the exclusive use of the motor vehicle to travel together under an itinerary either specified in advance or modified after having left the place of origin;

K. "commission" means the public regulation commission;

L. "commuter service" means the intrastate transportation of passengers in motor vehicles having a capacity of seven to fifteen persons, including the driver, provided to a volunteer-driver commuter group that shares rides to and from the workplace or training site, where participation is open to the public and incidental to the primary work or training-related purposes of the commuter group, and where the volunteer drivers have no employer-employee relationship with the commuter service;

M. "continuous and adequate service" means:

(1) for full-service carriers, reasonably continuous availability, offering and provision of transportation services through motor vehicles, equipment and resources satisfying safety and financial responsibility requirements under the Motor Carrier Act and commission rule, [which] that are reasonably adequate to serve the entire full-service territory authorized in the certificate, with reasonable response to all requests for service for the nature of passenger service authorized, based on the nature of public need, expense and volume of demand for the type of service authorized during seasonal periods; and

(2) for general-service carriers, reasonably continuous availability and offering of transportation services through motor vehicles, equipment and resources satisfying safety and financial responsibility requirements under the Motor Carrier Act and commission rule for the nature of the transportation service authorized in the certificate;

N. "contract driver" means a person who contracts with a motor carrier as an independent contractor to drive a vehicle pursuant to an operating authority issued to the motor carrier;

O. "endorsement" means the specification in a certificate of the territory in which the carrier is authorized to operate, the nature of service to be provided by a certificated passenger service and any additional terms of service that may be reasonably granted or required by the commission for the particular authority granted;

P. "fare" means the full compensation charged for transportation by a tariffed passenger service;

Q. "financial responsibility" means the ability to respond in damages for liability arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle in the provision of transportation services;

R. "fitness to provide a transportation service" means that an applicant or carrier complies with state law as provided in the Motor Carrier Act or by rule of the commission;

S. "for hire" means that transportation is offered or provided to the public for remuneration, compensation or reward of any kind, paid or promised, either directly or indirectly;

T. "full service" means one of the following certificated passenger services that are endorsed and required to meet specific standards for the provision of service to or throughout a community:

(1) an ambulance service;

(2) a scheduled shuttle service; or

(3) a municipal taxicab service;

U. "general service" means one of the following certificated services that provides transportation services of the type authorized, but is not required to provide unprofitable or marginally profitable carriage:

(1) a general shuttle service;

(2) a general taxicab service;

(3) a specialized passenger service; or

(4) a household goods service;

V. "highway" means a 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;

W. "holder of an operating authority" means the grantee of the operating authority or a person that currently holds all or part of the right to exercise the authority through a transfer by operation of law;

X. "household goods" means personal effects and property used or to be used in a dwelling when a part of the equipment or supply of the dwelling and other similar property as the federal motor carrier safety administration may provide by regulation, but shall not include property moving to or from a factory or store, other than property the householder has purchased to use in the householder's dwelling that is transported at the request of, and the transportation charges are paid to the carrier by, the householder;

Y. "household goods service" means the intrastate transportation, packing and storage of household goods for hire;

Z. "interested person" means a motor carrier operating in the territory involved in an application or grant of temporary authority, a person affected by an order of the commission or a rule proposed for adoption by the commission or a person the commission may deem interested in a particular matter;

AA. "interstate motor carrier" means a person providing compensated transportation in interstate commerce, whether or not the person is subject to regulation by the federal motor carrier safety administration;

BB. "intrastate motor carrier" means a motor carrier offering or providing transportation for hire by motor vehicle between points and places in the state;

CC. "involuntary suspension" means the temporary cessation of use of all or part of an operating authority ordered by the commission for cause for a stated period of time or pending compliance with certain conditions;

DD. "lease of a certificate or permit" means an agreement by which the holder of a certificate or permit grants to another person the exclusive right to use all or part of the certificate or permit for a specified period of time in exchange for consideration, but does not include an agreement between a motor carrier and its contract driver;

EE. "lease of equipment" means an agreement whereby a motor carrier obtains equipment owned by another person for use by the motor carrier in the exercise of its operating authority, but does not include an agreement between a motor carrier and its contract driver;

FF. "motor carrier" or "carrier" means a person offering or providing transportation of persons, property or household goods for hire by motor vehicle, whether in intrastate or interstate commerce;

GG. "motor carrier organization" means an organization approved by the commission to represent motor carriers and to discuss and propose industry interests and matters other than rates, as well as discussing and proposing rates and other matters pertaining to statewide tariffs;

HH. "motor vehicle" or "vehicle" means a vehicle, machine, tractor, trailer or semitrailer propelled or drawn by mechanical power and used on a highway in the transportation of property, household goods or persons, but does not include a vehicle, locomotive or car operated exclusively on rails;

II. "nature of service" means the type of transportation service to be provided by a certificated passenger service as set forth in Subsection A of Section 65-2A-8 NMSA 1978;

JJ. "nonconsensual tow" means the compensated transportation of a motor vehicle by a towing service, if such transportation is performed at the request of a law enforcement officer or without the prior consent or authorization of the owner or operator of the motor vehicle;

KK. "notice period" means the period of time specified in Section 65-2A-6 NMSA 1978 following publication of notice during which the commission may not act;

LL. "objection" means a document filed with the commission by an interested person or a member of the public during the notice period for an application for a certificate or a permit, or for amendment, lease or transfer of a certificate or permit, that expresses an objection to, or provides information concerning, the matter before the commission;

MM. "operating authority" means a certificate, permit, warrant, unified carrier registration or temporary authority issued by the commission to a motor carrier;

NN. "passenger" means a person other than the driver of a motor vehicle transported in a motor vehicle;

OO. "passenger service" means a transportation service offered or provided for the transportation of passengers by motor vehicle;

PP. "permit" means the authority issued by the commission to a person that authorizes the person to offer and provide a permitted service as a motor carrier;

QQ. "permitted service" means the intrastate transportation of passengers or household goods for hire pursuant to a contract between the motor carrier and another person;

RR. "predatory rate or practice" means the knowing and willful requirement by a carrier that a passenger or shipper pay a rate, fare or other charge in excess of the rates and charges or in a manner other than in accordance with terms of service as provided by law, as provided in a tariff governing the carrier or as provided in a preexisting written contract regarding the carriage, when such charge is made:

(1) by a passenger carrier as a prior condition for the provision of transportation or continued transportation of a passenger; or

(2) as a prior condition by a towing service carrier performing nonconsensual tows or a household goods service carrier for delivery of, release of or access to vehicles or household goods by the shipper or registered owner;

SS. "process" means, in the context of legal process, an order, subpoena or notice issued by the commission or an order, subpoena, notice, writ or summons issued by a court;

TT. "property" means movable articles of value, including cadavers, hazardous matter, farm products, livestock feed, stock salt, manure, wire, posts, dairy products, livestock hauled in lots of twenty-five thousand pounds or more, farm or ranch machinery and the items transported by a towing service, but does not include household goods or unprocessed farm products transported by a farmer from the place of harvesting to market, storage or a processing plant;

UU. "protest" means a document in the form of a pleading filed with the commission by a full-service carrier that expresses an objection to an application before the commission for a certificate for passenger service or for a permit for ambulance service or for passenger service pursuant to a public-charge contract or for amendment, lease or transfer of such a certificate or permit:

(1) when the territory involved in the application includes all or a portion of the full-service territory of the protesting carrier; and

(2) for a carrier other than an ambulance service carrier, when the grant of the application will, or presents a reasonable potential to, impair, diminish or otherwise adversely affect its existing provision of full-service passenger service to the public within its full-service territory;

VV. "public-charge contract" means a contract or contractual arrangement between a motor carrier and a third party for passenger service that requires or allows the motor carrier to charge passengers a fare for the transportation service to be provided pursuant to the contract;

WW. "rate" means a form of compensation charged, whether directly or indirectly, by a person for a transportation service subject to the jurisdiction of the commission;

XX. "record of a motor carrier" means an account, correspondence, memorandum, tape, disc, paper, book or transcribed information, or electronic data information, including the electronic hardware or software necessary to access the electronic data information in its document form, regarding the operation of a motor carrier;

YY. "registration year" means a calendar year;

ZZ. "revocation" means the involuntary, permanent termination of all or part of an operating authority ordered by the commission for cause;

AAA. "shipper" means a person who consigns or receives property or household goods for transportation;

BBB. "shuttle service" means the intrastate transportation of passengers for hire pursuant to a set fare for each passenger between two or more specified terminal points or areas and includes both scheduled shuttle service and general shuttle service as follows:

(1) "scheduled shuttle service" means a shuttle service that transports passengers to and from an airport both through prior arrangement and through presentment at terminal locations, on the basis of a daily time schedule filed with the commission, [which] that must be met in a timely fashion with a vehicle present at the terminal location regardless of the number of passengers carried on any run, if any, and that includes general shuttle service; and

(2) "general shuttle service" means a shuttle service that is not required to operate on a set schedule, that may optionally use a grid map to specify distant or adjacent terminal areas and that is not required to accept passengers other than pre-arranged passengers;

CCC. "specialized passenger service" means the intrastate transportation for hire of passengers with special physical needs by specialized types of vehicles, or for specialized types of service to the public or community, as the commission may by rule provide;

DDD. "tariff" means a document filed by a tariffed service carrier that has been approved by the commission and sets forth the transportation services offered by the motor carrier to the general public, including the rates, terms of service and applicable time schedules relating to those services;

EEE. "tariffed service" means one of the following transportation services authorized by the commission for the provision of service on the basis of rates and terms of service contained in a tariff approved by the commission:

(1) an ambulance service;

(2) a household goods service;

(3) a shuttle service;

(4) a specialized passenger service;

(5) a taxicab service; or

(6) a towing service performing nonconsensual tows;

FFF. "taxicab association" means an association, cooperative or other legal entity whose members are taxicab drivers, which shall be treated in the same manner as any other applicant with regard to applications for a certificate for general taxicab service or for full-service municipal taxicab service and which shall be subject in the same manner to all other provisions, requirements and limitations of the Motor Carrier Act;

GGG. "taxicab service" means intrastate transportation of passengers for hire in a motor vehicle having a capacity of not more than eight persons, including the driver, for which the passenger or other person engaging the vehicle is allowed to specify not only the origin and destination points of the trip but also, within reason, the route taken by the vehicle, any intermediate stop, any optional waiting at a stop and any other passengers transported during the trip and that charges a fare for use of the vehicle primarily on the basis of a drop-flag fee, cumulative mileage and cumulative wait time through a taxicab meter used to cumulate and display the fare to the passenger and includes both municipal taxicab service and general taxicab service, as follows:

(1) "municipal taxicab service" means a taxicab service that deploys vehicles at all times of the day and year, is centrally dispatched and reasonably responds to all calls for service within its endorsed full-service territory regardless of profitability of the individual trip, in addition to the transportation service provided by a general taxicab service; and

(2) "general taxicab service" means a taxicab service that need not be dispatched, that may pick up on-demand passengers through flagging or at a taxicab stand or queue, that need not deploy vehicles in any particular manner and that may charge for trips to destination points or places outside of the taxicab service's certificated territories on the basis of a set fare;

HHH. "terms of service" means all terms, aspects, practices, limitations, conditions and schedules of service other than specific rate amounts pertaining to a tariffed service;

III. "towing service" means the use of specialized equipment, including repossession services using towing equipment, to transport or store:

(1) a damaged, disabled or abandoned motor vehicle and its cargo;

(2) a motor vehicle to replace a damaged, disabled or abandoned motor vehicle;

(3) parts and equipment to repair a damaged, disabled or abandoned motor vehicle;

(4) a motor vehicle whose driver has been declared unable to drive by a law enforcement officer;

(5) a motor vehicle whose driver has been removed from the scene or is unable to drive; or

(6) a motor vehicle repossessed or seized pursuant to lawful authority;

JJJ. "transfer of a certificate or permit" means a permanent conveyance of all or part of a certificate or permit;

KKK. "transfer by operation of law" means that all or a part of a grantee's interest in an operating authority passes to a fiduciary or other person by application of established rules of law;

LLL. "transportation service" means transportation subject to the jurisdiction of the commission, offered or provided by a motor carrier, that requires the carrier to obtain an operating authority from the commission under the Motor Carrier Act, regardless of whether the motor carrier has obtained appropriate operating authority from the commission;

MMM. "verification" means a notarized signature verifying the contents of the document or other filing or a signature verifying the contents of the document or other filing under penalty of perjury, expressly providing that the signatory swears or affirms the contents under penalty of perjury as provided in Subsection A of Section 65-2A-33 NMSA 1978;

NNN. "voluntary suspension" means the commission-authorized cessation of use of all or part of a certificate or permit at the request of the holder for a specified period of time, not to exceed twelve consecutive months;

OOO. "warrant" means the authority issued by the commission to a person that authorizes the person to offer and provide a warranted service as a motor carrier;

PPP. "warranted service" means one of the following intrastate transportation services offered or provided for hire:

(1) a charter service;

[(2) a commuter service;

(3)] (2) a property transportation service; or

[(4)] (3) a towing service; and

QQQ. "weight-bumping" means the knowing and willful statement of a fraudulent weight on a shipment of household goods."

SECTION 2. Section 65-2A-12 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003, Chapter 359, Section 12, as amended by Laws 2013, Chapter 73, Section 11 and by Laws 2013, Chapter 77, Section 11) is amended to read:

"65-2A-12. WARRANTS.--

A. The commission shall issue a warrant that allows a person to provide warranted service as a [commuter service] charter service, towing service or motor carrier of property if the commission finds that the applicant is in compliance with the financial responsibility and safety requirements of the Motor Carrier Act and the rules of the commission.

B. A towing service carrier performing nonconsensual tows is subject to tariff rates and terms of service. A towing service carrier performing nonconsensual tows shall not use the same motor vehicles, equipment and facilities used by another warranted towing service carrier performing nonconsensual tows.

C. A warrant shall not be transferred or leased to another person.

D. The commission may without notice or a public hearing cancel a warrant if the owner fails to operate under the warrant for twelve consecutive months or fails to provide proof of financial responsibility as required by the commission for four consecutive months."

SECTION 3. Section 65-2A-19 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003, Chapter 359, Section 19, as amended by Laws 2013, Chapter 73, Section 17 and by Laws 2013, Chapter 77, Section 17) is amended to read:

"65-2A-19. SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR MOTOR VEHICLES AND DRIVERS.--

A. A motor carrier shall provide safe and adequate service, equipment and facilities for the rendition of transportation services in this state.

B. The commission 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 commission 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. A commuter service shall certify that it has a program providing for an initial drug test for a person seeking to be a commuter service driver. The program shall use reasonable collection and analysis procedures to ensure accurate results, require testing only for substances controlled by federal regulation of commercial motor carriers and ensure the confidentiality of the test results and medical information obtained.

D.] C. The [motor transportation] 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.

[E.] D. The commission 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."

SECTION 4. Section 65-2A-38 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003, Chapter 359, Section 38, as amended by Laws 2013, Chapter 73, Section 32 and by Laws 2013, Chapter 77, Section 32) is amended to read:

"65-2A-38. EXEMPTIONS.--The Motor Carrier Act shall not apply to:

A. school buses, provided that school buses shall be subject to applicable school bus safety provisions established by the state transportation director;

B. United States mail carriers, unless they are engaged in other business as motor carriers of persons or household goods;

C. hearses, funeral coaches or other motor vehicles belonging to or operated in connection with the business of a funeral service practitioner licensed by the state;

D. a county or municipal public bus transportation system; [or]

E. private carriers; or

F. commuter services."

SECTION 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2017.

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