A. Except as provided in this section and in Section 65-2A-13 NMSA 1978, the commission shall issue a permit allowing a person to provide permitted service for transportation of passengers or household goods pursuant to contract after notice and public hearing requirements are met, if the applicant is:

(1) fit to provide the transportation to be authorized by the permit; and

(2) in compliance with the safety and financial responsibility requirements of the Motor Carrier Act, the rules of the commission and other applicable federal and state laws and rules.

B. Before granting a permit to an applicant, the commission shall consider any objections or protests that were filed within the notice period.

C. The commission shall not grant a permit for ambulance or household goods service, or for provision of passenger service pursuant to a public-charge contract, or for a lease or transfer of such a permit, unless the applicant holds a certificate for provision of the appropriate certificated service in the territory to be served under contract. A carrier's operations pursuant to permits for contracts for ambulance service or household goods service, or for public-charge contracts for passenger service, shall be held to the same standards as are the carrier's certificated service operations. If the transportation to be provided under the contract is passenger service other than ambulance service, the contractual rates and terms of service affecting passengers shall be provided in the carrier's tariff.

D. The commission shall not issue a permit for passenger service if the contract or arrangement between the carrier and the other contracting party effectively excludes or otherwise impairs a certificated carrier's access to public places or the public's access to certificated carriers for the provision of transportation services by a certificated passenger service carrier then serving the same territory, and no permit issued may be used to effect such exclusion or impairment of certificated passenger service.

E. A permit issued by the commission shall specify the business of the carrier, the scope of the authority granted to it and the terms, conditions and limitations of the authority.

F. An applicant for a permit shall file with the commission each contract under which it intends to operate.

History: Laws 2003, ch. 359, § 10; 2005, ch. 229, § 1; 2013, ch. 73, § 9; 2013, ch. 77, § 9.

The 2013 amendment, effective July 1, 2013, clarified and simplified procedures for issuing permits; in the title, after "Permits", deleted "for intrastate contract motor carrier permits of persons or household goods", deleted former Subsection A, which required carriers of persons and household goods to obtain a permit; in Subsection A, in the introductory sentence, after "this section", added "and in Section 65-2A-13 NMSA 1978", after "a person to provide", deleted "compensated intrastate" and added "permitted service for", after "transportation", deleted "as a contract motor carrier of persons" and added "of passengers", after "household goods", added "pursuant to contract", and after "requirements are met, if", added "the applicant is", in Paragraph (1), after "fit", deleted "willing and able", and deleted former Paragraph (3), which required that the transportation be in the public interest; in Subsection B, in the introductory sentence, after "permit to an", deleted "intrastate contract motor carrier of persons" and added "applicant"; and deleted former Paragraphs (1) through (5), which provided criteria to be considered in issuing permits and added "any objections or protests that were filed within the notice period"; deleted former Subsection D, which prohibited the issuance of a permit if it would impair the service of a certificated carrier in the same territory; deleted former Subsection E, which provided criteria to be considered in issuing permits to carriers of household goods; added Subsections C through D; in Subsection E, after "the business of the", deleted "intrastate contract motor"; in Subsection F, at the beginning of the sentence, deleted "intrastate contract motor carrier of persons or household goods" and added "applicant for a permit", and deleted the former last sentence, which required the commission to approve a contract and authorize operation if they were in the public interest; deleted former Subsection H, which prohibited the commission from limiting the number of contracts of carriers of persons and household goods; and deleted former Subsection I, which permitted a carrier owning a certificate and a permit for the same service to use the same equipment for both common and contract services.

Laws 2013, ch. 73, § 9 and Laws 2013, ch. 77, § 9, both effective July 1, 2013, enacted identical amendments to this section. The section was set out as amended by Laws 2013, ch. 77, § 9. See 12-1-8 NMSA 1978.

The 2005 amendment, effective June 17, 2005, deleted from Subsection C(3) the requirement that the commission consider the operations of motor carriers protesting the application for a permit and deleted from Subsection E(3) the requirement that the commission consider the operations of carriers protesting the application for a permit.

Intervention under prior law. — Prior to the 2005 amendment to Subsection C(3) of 65-2A-10 NMSA 1978, motor carriers of persons operating over the routes or in the territory involved in an application for a permit could protest the application on whether the permit would endanger or impair their operations contrary to the public interest. T-N-T Taxi, Ltd. Co. v. N.M. Pub. Regulation Comm'n, 2006-NMSC-016, 139 N.M. 550, 135 P.3d 814.