HOUSE TRANSPORTATION, PUBLIC WORKS AND CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL 392

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

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION; AMENDING THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CODE TO ALLOW CERTAIN SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO TRANSPORT CERTAIN STUDENTS BY ALTERNATIVE MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION; MAKING CONFORMING CHANGES TO THE DEFINITION OF "SCHOOL BUS" IN THE MOTOR VEHICLE CODE.

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

     SECTION 1. Section 22-16-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 16, Section 222, as amended) is amended to read:

     "22-16-4. SCHOOL BUS ROUTES--LIMITATIONS--EXCEPTIONS--MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.--

          A. Bus routes shall be established by the local school district.

          B. Except as provided in Subsections C and [D] E of this section, no school bus route shall be maintained for distances less than:

                (1) one mile one way for students in grades kindergarten through six;

                (2) one and one-half miles one way for students in grades seven through nine; and

                (3) two miles one way for students in grades ten through twelve.

          C. In school districts having hazardous walking conditions as determined by the local school board and confirmed by the state transportation director, students of any grade may be transported a lesser distance than that provided in Subsection B of this section. General standards for determining hazardous walking conditions shall be established by the state transportation division of the department [of education] with the approval of the [state board] department, but the standards shall be flexibly and not rigidly applied by the local school board and the state transportation director to prevent accidents and help ensure student safety.

          D. A school district with from one to six students enrolled in the school district whose residence, within the boundaries of the school district, is five or more miles from the student's or students' school or schools shall be able to provide transportation to and from school by means of a school-district-owned, minimum six-passenger, full-size, extended-length, sport utility vehicle driven by a school district employee certified as an activity driver by the district with both the vehicle and driver insured by the public school insurance authority; provided that the local superintendent is able to demonstrate a need. The department shall adopt rules to provide for the safety of students transported in a sport utility vehicle pursuant to this section.

          [D.] E. Exceptional children whose handicaps require transportation and three- and four-year-old children who meet the [state board-approved] department-approved criteria and definition of developmentally disabled may be transported a lesser distance than that provided in Subsection B of this section."

     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 constructed, treated or combined with other materials 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 that is officially set apart within a highway for the exclusive use of pedestrians and that 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. "salvage vehicle" means a vehicle:

                (1) other than a nonrepairable vehicle, of a type subject to registration that has been wrecked, destroyed or damaged excluding, pursuant to rules issued by the department, hail damage, to the extent that the owner, leasing company, financial institution or the insurance company that insured or is responsible for repair of the vehicle considers it uneconomical to repair the vehicle and that is subsequently not repaired by or for the person who owned the vehicle at the time of the event resulting in damage; or

                (2) that was determined to be uneconomical to repair and for which a total loss payment is made by an insurer, whether or not the vehicle is subsequently repaired, if, prior to or upon making payment to the claimant, the insurer obtained the agreement of the claimant to the amount of the total loss settlement and informed the claimant that, pursuant to rules of the department, the title must be branded and submitted to the department for issuance of a salvage certificate of title for the vehicle;

          D. "school bus" means a commercial motor vehicle used to transport preprimary, primary or secondary school students from home to school, from school to home or to and from school-sponsored events, but not including a vehicle:

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

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

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

                (4) that is a minimum six-passenger, full-size, extended-length, sport utility vehicle operated by a school district employee pursuant to Subsection D of Section 22-16-4 NMSA 1978;

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

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

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

          G. "semitrailer" means a 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;

          H. "sidewalk" means a 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;

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

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

          K. "special mobile equipment" means a 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;

          L. "specially constructed vehicle" means a 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;

          M. "state" means a state, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia or any state of the Republic of Mexico or the Federal District of Mexico or a province of the Dominion of Canada;

          N. "state highway" means a public highway that has been designated as a state highway by the legislature, the state transportation commission or the secretary of transportation;

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

          P. "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;

          Q. "street" or "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;

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

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

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