RELATING TO VEHICLE REGISTRATION; CLARIFYING THAT THERE IS NO MINIMUM PERIOD BEFORE A NONRESIDENT OWNER MAY REGISTER A VEHICLE.

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

Section 1. Section 66-3-301 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1978, Chapter 35, Section 77, as amended) is amended to read:

"66-3-301. REGISTRATION BY NONRESIDENTS.--

A. Any nonresident owner of a vehicle of a type otherwise subject to registration may use or permit the use of the vehicle within the state for a period of one hundred eighty days without registering his vehicle, but any vehicle so used must display current registration plates issued for the vehicle in the state where the owner resides.

B. Any person gainfully employed within the boundaries of this state for a period of thirty days or more within a sixty-day period shall be presumed to be a resident of this state.

C. Notwithstanding the fact of their employment, the following are not required to register their vehicles if they display current registration plates issued for the vehicle in the state where the owner resides:

(1) nonresident students engaged in a full-time course of study at an institution of higher learning located within this state, and the vehicle displays a valid nonresident student sticker issued by the institution which they attend; or

(2) a nonresident owner gainfully employed within the boundaries of this state who uses his vehicle to commute daily from his home in another state to and from his place of employment within this state. The provisions of this paragraph apply only if the state in which the owner resides extends like privileges to New Mexico residents gainfully employed within the boundaries of that state.

D. A nonresident owner of a foreign vehicle operated within this state for the transportation of persons or property for compensation or for the transportation of merchandise either regularly according to a schedule or for a consecutive period exceeding thirty days shall register the vehicle and pay the same fees as required with reference to like vehicles owned by residents of this state. This subsection shall not be construed as limiting the effect of validly entered reciprocal agreements between New Mexico and other states.

E. Every nonresident, including any foreign corporation carrying on business within this state and owning and regularly operating in that business any vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, house trailer or pole trailer within the state, shall register each vehicle and pay the same fees as required with reference to like vehicles owned by residents of this state.

F. Nothing in the Motor Vehicle Code shall be interpreted to require a minimum period for the use of a vehicle in this state before a nonresident owner may voluntarily register the vehicle."