As used in the New Mexico Commercial Driver's License Act:

A. "commerce" means:

(1) trade, traffic or transportation within the jurisdiction of the United States between a place in New Mexico and a place outside of New Mexico, including a place outside of the United States; and

(2) trade, traffic or transportation in the United States that affects any trade, traffic or transportation described in Paragraph (1) of this subsection;

B. "commercial driver's license holder" means an individual to whom a license has been issued by a state or other jurisdiction, in accordance with the standards found in 49 CFR Part 383, as amended or renumbered, that authorizes the individual to operate a commercial motor vehicle;

C. "commercial driver's license information system" means the information system created pursuant to the federal Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 that contains information pertaining to operators of commercial motor vehicles;

D. "commercial motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle or combination of motor vehicles used in commerce to transport passengers or property if the motor vehicle:

(1) has a gross combination weight rating of more than twenty-six thousand pounds inclusive of a towed unit with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than ten thousand pounds;

(2) has a gross vehicle weight rating of more than twenty-six thousand pounds;

(3) is designed to transport sixteen or more passengers, including the driver; or

(4) is of any size and is used in the transportation of hazardous materials, as provided in 49 CFR Part 383.5;

E. "conviction" means:

(1) an unvacated adjudication of guilt or a determination that a person has violated or failed to comply with the law by:

(a) a court of original jurisdiction; or

(b) an authorized administrative tribunal;

(2) an unvacated forfeiture of bail or collateral deposited to secure a person's appearance in court;

(3) a plea of guilty or nolo contendere accepted by the court;

(4) the payment of a fine or court cost;

(5) a violation of a condition of release without bail, regardless of whether the payment is rebated, suspended or probated;

(6) an assignment to a diversion program or a driver improvement school; or

(7) a conditional discharge as provided in Section 31-20-13 NMSA 1978;

F. "director" means the director of the motor vehicle division of the department;

G. "disqualification" means:

(1) a suspension, revocation or cancellation of a commercial driver's license by the state or jurisdiction that issued the commercial driver's license;

(2) a withdrawal of a person's privileges to drive a commercial motor vehicle by a state or other jurisdiction as the result of a violation of state or local law relating to motor vehicle control other than a parking, vehicle weight or vehicle defect violation; and

(3) a determination by the federal motor carrier safety administration that a person is not qualified to operate a motor vehicle;

H. "division" means the motor vehicle division of the department;

I. "driving a commercial motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol" means:

(1) driving a commercial motor vehicle while the driver has an alcohol concentration in the driver's blood or breath of four one hundredths or more;

(2) driving a commercial motor vehicle while the driver is under the influence of intoxicating liquor; or

(3) refusal to submit to chemical tests administered pursuant to Section 66-8-107 NMSA 1978;

J. "employee" means an operator of a commercial motor vehicle, including full-time, regularly employed drivers; casual, intermittent or occasional drivers; leased drivers; and independent owner-operator contractors, while in the course of operating a commercial motor vehicle, who is either directly employed by or under lease to an employer;

K. "employer" means a person, including the United States, a state and a political subdivision of a state or their agencies or instrumentalities, that owns or leases a commercial motor vehicle or assigns employees to operate such a vehicle;

L. "fatality" means the death of a person as a result of a motor vehicle accident;

M. "gross combination weight rating" means the value specified by the manufacturer as the loaded weight of a combination vehicle. In the absence of a value specified by the manufacturer, gross combination weight rating shall be determined by adding the gross vehicle weight rating of the power unit and the total weight of the towed unit or units and any load thereon;

N. "gross vehicle weight rating" means the value specified by the manufacturer as the loaded weight of a single vehicle;

O. "imminent hazard" means a condition that presents a substantial likelihood that death, serious illness, severe personal injury or a substantial endangerment to health, property or the environment will occur before the reasonable foreseeable completion date of a formal proceeding to lessen the risk of that death, illness, injury or endangerment;

P. "noncommercial motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle or combination of motor vehicles that is not a commercial motor vehicle;

Q. "nonresident commercial driver's license" means a commercial driver's license issued by another state to a person domiciled in that state or by a foreign country to a person domiciled in that country;

R. "out-of-service order" means a declaration by an authorized enforcement officer of a federal, state, Canadian, Mexican or local jurisdiction that a driver, a commercial motor vehicle or a motor carrier operation is temporarily prohibited from operating;

S. "railroad-highway grade crossing violation" means a violation of a provision of Section 66-7-341 or 66-7-343 NMSA 1978 or a violation of federal or local law, ordinance or rule pertaining to stopping at or crossing a railroad-highway grade crossing;

T. "serious traffic violation" means conviction of any of the following if committed when operating a motor vehicle:

(1) speed of fifteen miles or more per hour above the posted limits;

(2) reckless driving as defined by Section 66-8-113 NMSA 1978 or a municipal ordinance or the law of another state;

(3) homicide by vehicle, as defined in Section 66-8-101 NMSA 1978;

(4) injury to pregnant women by vehicle as defined in Section 66-8-101.1 NMSA 1978 or a municipal ordinance or the law of another state;

(5) any other violation of law relating to motor vehicle traffic control, other than a parking violation, that the secretary determines by regulation to be a serious traffic violation. "Serious traffic violation" does not include a vehicle weight or vehicle defect violation;

(6) improper or erratic lane changes in violation of Section 66-7-317 NMSA 1978;

(7) following another vehicle too closely in violation of Section 66-7-318 NMSA 1978;

(8) texting while driving in violation of Section 66-7-374 NMSA 1978 or a municipal ordinance;

(9) use of a handheld mobile communication device while driving a commercial motor vehicle in violation of Section 1 of this 2016 act or a municipal ordinance;

(10) directly or indirectly causing death or great bodily injury to a human being in the unlawful operation of a motor vehicle in violation of Section 66-8-101 NMSA 1978;

(11) driving a commercial motor vehicle without possession of a commercial driver's license in violation of Section 66-5-59 NMSA 1978;

(12) driving a commercial motor vehicle without the proper class of commercial driver's license and endorsements pursuant to Section 66-5-65 NMSA 1978 and the Motor Carrier Safety Act [65-3-1 to 65-3-14 NMSA 1978] for the specific vehicle group operated or for the passengers or type of cargo transported; or

(13) driving a commercial motor vehicle without obtaining a commercial driver's license in violation of Section 66-5-59 NMSA 1978; and

U. "state of domicile" means the state in which a person has a true, fixed and permanent home and principal residence and to which the person has the intention of returning whenever the person has been absent from that state.

History: Laws 1989, ch. 14, § 3; 1990, ch. 120, § 29; 1992, ch. 13, § 3; 1998, ch. 17, § 1; 2003, ch. 51, § 2; 2004, ch. 59, § 16; 2005, ch. 312, § 2; 2007, ch. 321, § 4; 2009, ch. 200, § 4; 2016, ch. 63, § 2.

Cross references. — For the federal Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986, see 49 U.S.C. § 31301.

The 2016 amendment, effective May 18, 2016, made "texting while driving" and "use of a handheld mobile communication device while driving a commercial vehicle" serious traffic violations for purposes of the New Mexico Commercial Driver's License Act; in Subsection D, Paragraph (4), after "materials, as", deleted "hazardous materials are defined" and added "provided"; in Subsection S, after "local law", added "ordinance"; and in Subsection T, added new Paragraphs (8) and (9) and redesignated the succeeding paragraphs accordingly.

The 2009 amendment, effective July 1, 2009, added Subsections B and E; and in Paragraph (4) of Subsection D, after "hazardous materials", deleted "which requires the motor vehicle to be placarded under applicable law" and added "hazardous materials are defined in 49 C.F.R. part 383.5".

The 2007 amendment, effective April 2, 2007, added Subsection S.

The 2005 amendment, effective July 1, 2005, in Subsection B, added the definition of "commercial driver's license information system"; in Subsection D, added the definition of "director"; and in Subsection G, added the definition of "division".

The 2004 amendment, effective March 4, 2004, added Subsections C and D, redesignated Subsections C and D as Subsections E and F, added Subsection G, redesignated Subsections E and F as Subsections H and I, added Subsections J, K and L, redesignated Subsections G, H and I as Subsections M, N and O and added to Subsection O Paragraphs (6) to (11).

The 2003 amendment, effective March 19, 2003, inserted Subsection H and redesignated former Subsection H as present Subsection I; and substituted "'Serious traffic violation' does not include" for "A serious traffic violation does not include" preceding "vehicle weight" in present Subsection I(5).

The 1998 amendment, effective May 20, 1998, rewrote this section to the extent that a detailed comparison would be impracticable.

The 1992 amendment, effective April 1, 1992, substituted "fifteen" for "twenty-six" in Subsection C(1), substituted "reckless driving" for "reckless or careless driving" and "Section 66-8-113" for "Sections 66-8-113 and 66-8-114" in Subsection C(2), and substituted "that" for "which" in Subsection C(5).

The 1990 amendment, effective July 1, 1990, deleted former Subsections A to H, J to M, O, Q, and R which contained certain definitions, redesignated former Subsections I, N, and P as present Subsections A, B, and C, and made minor stylistic changes.