A. A person shall file an application for any matter for which department approval is required. An application shall be made in writing, verified and in a form that contains information and is accompanied by proof of service upon interested persons as required by the department. B. The department shall simplify to the extent possible the process for approving applications. The department may hold a public hearing on its own initiative or specific to an objection that has been filed within the notice period in opposition to or in consideration of an application. C. The department shall hold a public hearing on an application whenever a protest is filed concerning the application during the notice period or the traffic safety bureau of the department requests a hearing during the notice period. D. The department may approve or deny an application in whole or in part, or allow or require particular terms of service as it may find reasonable and appropriate. If no objection, protest or request for hearing by the traffic safety bureau of the department is filed during the notice period, the department may grant the application by ministerial action, if the application complies with the provisions of the Motor Carrier Act and the rules of the department regarding fitness, ability, financial responsibility and safety. History: Laws 2003, ch. 359, § 5; 2013, ch. 73, § 4; 2013, ch. 77, § 4; 2023, ch. 100, § 33. 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; changed each occurrence of "commission" to "department" throughout the section; and in Subsection D, after "hearing by the", deleted "transportation division" and added "traffic safety bureau". 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 2013 amendment, effective July 1, 2013, authorized the commission to hold hearings on its own initiative; granted the commission ministerial authority to grant applications without a hearing; in the title of the section, added "ministerial grants of authority"; in Subsection A, in the first sentence, after "application", deleted "if" and added "for any matter for which"; and in the second sentence, after "verified", deleted "under oath"; in Subsection B, in the first sentence, after "commission shall", deleted "streamline and"; and in the second sentence, after "public hearing" added "on its own initiative or", after "specific to", deleted "a protest or request" and added "an objection", after "objection that has been", deleted "timely", and after "filed", added "within the notice period"; in Subsection C, after "application whenever", deleted "an interested person protests" and added "a protest is filed concerning"; and in Subsection D, in the first sentence, after "in whole or in part", added the remainder of the sentence and added the second sentence. A public hearing is required upon the filing of a protest. — Where a cab company filed an application for a certificate of authority to provide taxi services in an area in which appellants were doing business; appellants filed a protest and motion to intervene; a public regulation commission regulation required that before intervention could be allowed, appellants were required to provide the commission with facts and details that supported their protest; a hearing officer appointed by the commission denied appellants' motion to intervene without a hearing and allowed commission staff to process the application as an uncontested matter; and the commission granted the applicant a certificate of authority without ever holding a public hearing, the commission's regulation imposed a greater burden on interested parties who seek to protest at a public hearing than the burden established by the Motor Carrier Act and the commission acted outside its grant of statutory authority by treating the matter as an uncontested matter because a public hearing must be held upon the filing of a protest, it does not turn on the grant of a party's status as an intervenor. Albuquerque Cab Co. v. N.M. Pub. Regulation Comm'n , 2014-NMSC-004. Intervention under prior law. — Prior to the 2005 amendment to Subsection C(3) of 65-2A-10 NMSA 1978 [repealed], 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.
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