A. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the department is authorized to enter into agreements with financial institutions and credit card companies under which the department may accept payment by credit card from motor carriers of the taxes, fees or other charges due pursuant to the Motor Transportation Act, Motor Vehicle Code [Chapter 66, Articles 1 to 8 NMSA 1978], Trip Tax Act [Chapter 7, Article 15 NMSA 1978], Special Fuels Tax Act [repealed] or Weight Distance Tax Act [Chapter 7, Article 15A NMSA 1978]. Any fee payable to the financial institution or credit card company for a payment by credit card authorized under this section may be deducted from the proceeds of the taxes, fees or other charges paid on a pro-rata basis prior to any other distribution of the proceeds required by law. The necessary portion of the proceeds of the taxes, fees and other charges collected under this subsection is hereby appropriated for the purpose of paying the fee payable to the financial institution or credit card company.

B. The secretary is authorized to establish by regulation fees to cover the expense of providing additional services for the convenience of the motoring public. Any service established for which a fee is adopted under this section shall be optional, with the fee not being charged to any person not taking advantage of the service. Amounts collected pursuant to this subsection are appropriated to the department for the purpose of defraying the expense of providing the service.

History: 1978 Comp., § 65-1-28, enacted by Laws 1987, ch. 128, § 1; 1992, ch. 106, § 11.

Bracketed material. — The bracketed material was inserted by the compiler and is not part of the law.

Laws 1992, ch. 51, § 23 repealed the Special Fuels Tax Act, 7-16-1 to 7-16-26 NMSA 1978, effective January 1, 1993. For present comparable provisions, see Chapter 7, Article 16A NMSA 1978.

Cross references. — For provisions regarding payment in foreign currency, see 66-6-36 NMSA 1978.

The 1992 amendment, effective July 1, 1992, substituted the present section catchline for "Optional services; fees; appropriations"; added Subsection A; designated the formerly undesignated provisions as Subsection B; and, in Subsection B, substituted "secretary" for "director" in the first sentence and substituted "subsection" for "section" and "department" for "division" in the last sentence.