A. A motor carrier shall provide safe and adequate service, equipment and facilities for the rendition of transportation services in this state. B. The department shall prescribe safety requirements for drivers and for motor vehicles weighing twenty-six thousand pounds or less or carrying fifteen or fewer persons, including the driver, used by intrastate motor carriers operating in this state. The department may prescribe additional requirements related to safety, including driver safety training programs, vehicle preventive maintenance programs, inquiries regarding the safety of the motor vehicles and drivers employed by a motor carrier, and the appropriateness of the motor vehicles and equipment for the transportation services to be provided by the motor carrier. C. The New Mexico state police division of the department of public safety may immediately order, without notice or a public hearing, a motor vehicle to be taken out of service for violation of a federal or state law or rule relating to safety if the violation would endanger the public health or safety. D. The department shall implement rules requiring carriers to obtain criminal background reports for all employed or contract drivers of certificated service carriers and for all other persons employed by certificated household goods service carriers who enter private dwellings in the course of household goods service. History: Laws 2003, ch. 359, § 19; 2013, ch. 73, § 17; 2013, ch. 77, § 17; 2017, ch. 109, § 3; 2023, ch. 100, § 45. The 2023 amendment, effective July 1, 2024, removed references to the public regulation commission due to the transfer of certain powers and duties to the department of transportation; and changed each occurrence of "commission" to "department" throughout the section. Temporary provisions. — Laws 2023, ch. 100, § 80, effective July 1, 2024, provided: A. On July 1, 2024, all staff positions, functions, personnel, appropriations, money, records, equipment, supplies, other property and contractual obligations of the public regulation commission related to motor carrier regulation and enforcement, railroad safety enforcement and ambulance standards are transferred to the department of transportation. B. Beginning July 1, 2024, all references in law, rules, orders and other official acts to the public regulation commission or the transportation division of the public regulation commission related to motor carrier regulation and enforcement, railroad safety enforcement and ambulance standards shall be deemed references to the department of transportation. C. Beginning July 1, 2024, all contractual obligations of the public regulation commission related to motor carrier regulation and enforcement, railroad safety enforcement and ambulance standards are binding on the department of transportation. D. The rules, orders and decisions of the public regulation commission related to motor carrier regulation and enforcement, railroad safety enforcement and ambulance standards shall remain in effect until repealed or amended. The 2017 amendment, effective July 1, 2017, removed the provision related to drug testing requirements for any person seeking to be a commuter service driver, and replaced "motor transportation division" with "New Mexico state police division" regarding the authority to order a motor vehicle to be taken out of service for certain safety violations; and deleted former Subsection C, which related to drug testing requirements for commuter service drivers, and redesignated the succeeding subsections accordingly. The 2013 amendment, effective July 1, 2013, required criminal background reports for drivers and persons employed by household goods carriers; in the title, after "drivers", deleted "used in compensated transportation"; and added Subsection E.
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