A. With respect to transportation and transmission companies and common carriers, the commission shall:
(1) fix, determine, supervise, regulate and control all charges and rates of railway, express, telegraph, telephone, sleeping car and other transportation and transmission companies and common carriers within the state;
(2) determine any matters of public convenience and necessity with respect to matters subject to its regulatory authority as provided by law;
(3) require railway companies and other common carriers to provide and maintain adequate equipment, depots, stockpens, station buildings, agents and facilities for the accommodation of shippers and passengers and for receiving and delivering freight and express and to provide and maintain necessary crossings, culverts, sidings and other facilities for convenience and safety whenever in the commission's judgment the public interest demands;
(4) require railway companies, transportation companies and common carriers to provide such reasonable safety appliances and use such reasonable safety practices as may be necessary and proper for the safety of employees and the public as required by federal or state laws and rules;
(5) change, amend and rescind rates;
(6) enforce its rules through administrative sanctions and in the courts; and
(7) carry out all other duties and have all other powers provided by law.
B. In fixing rates of telephone and telegraph companies, due consideration shall be given to the earnings, investments and expenditures as a whole within the state. The commission shall include in that consideration the earnings, investments and expenditures derived from or related to the sale of directory advertising and other directory listing services.
C. The commission may subpoena witnesses and documents, enforce its subpoenas through any court and, through the court, punish for contempt.
D. The commission has the power, after notice and hearing of record, to determine and decide any question and to issue orders relating to its powers and duties.
E. An interested party may appeal from a final order of the commission by filing a notice of appeal with the supreme court asking for review of the order within thirty days of the final order. The appellant shall pay to the commission any costs of preparing and transmitting the record to the court.
F. The pendency of an appeal shall not automatically stay the order appealed from. The appellant may seek to obtain a stay from the commission or the supreme court.
G. The appeal shall be on the record of the hearing before the commission and shall be governed by the appellate rules applicable to administrative appeals. The supreme court shall affirm the commission's order unless it is:
(1) arbitrary, capricious or an abuse of discretion;
(2) not supported by substantial evidence in the record; or
(3) otherwise not in accordance with law.
H. In the case of a failure or refusal of any person to comply with an order of the commission within the time prescribed in the order or within thirty days after the order is entered, whichever is later, unless a stay has been granted, the commission shall seek enforcement of the order in the district court. The enforcement hearing shall be held on an expedited basis. At the hearing, the sole question shall be whether the person has failed to comply with or violated the order.
History: Laws 1998, ch. 108, § 52.
ANNOTATIONSEffective dates. — Laws 1998, ch. 108, § 83 made Laws 1998, ch. 108, § 52 effective January 1, 1999.
Adoption of conclusions from a previous proceeding denied due process. — Where the PRC entered an order in a case that determined the price floor for promotional offerings by the utility intervenor; in a second case, the PRC incorporated findings from the first case into the order entered in the second case; the findings were based on evidence in the first case, and appellant was a party to the second case but not to the first case, appellant's due process rights were violated because appellant was denied the opportunity to present evidence and to examine and cross-examine witnesses regarding the PRC's decision in the first case. TW Telecom of N.M., LLC v. N.M. Pub. Regulation Comm'n, 2011-NMSC-029, 150 N.M. 12, 256 P.3d 24.
Appeals from final orders. — The public regulation commission (PRC) was not authorized to issue orders of removal under the former provisions of N.M. Const., art. XI, § 7 that were repealed effective January 1, 1999; instead, Section 8-8-21 NMSA 1978 authorized the parties to treat final orders of the state corporation commission that were not removed to the supreme court prior to that date as final orders of the PRC for purposes of appeal under this section. U.S. W. Commc'ns, Inc. v. N.M. Pub. Regulation Comm'n, 1999-NMSC-024, 127 N.M. 375, 981 P.2d 789.
Imputation of telephone directory revenue to set telephone rates. — New Mexico's imputation of the telephone directory revenue of plaintiff's subsidiary to plaintiff's telephone services for telephone rate setting purposes did not interfere with interstate commerce and plaintiff's challenge to the imputation was a challenge to an order affecting rates that was barred under the Johnson Act, 28 U.S.C. §1342. U.S. West Inc. v. Tristani, 182 F.3d 1202 (10th Cir. 1999).