A. The department upon registering a vehicle shall issue a registration plate or a validating sticker to the owner of the vehicle. The validating sticker may be designed and required to be placed on the registration plate or elsewhere on the vehicle as prescribed by the department.
B. Each registration plate shall have a background of reflective material such that the registration number assigned to the vehicle is plainly legible from a distance of one hundred feet at night. The colors shall include those of the state flag, except prestige and special plates.
C. Each registration plate shall have displayed upon it:
(1) the registration number assigned to the person to whom it was issued; and
(2) the name of this state.
D. The department shall issue no registration plates for privately owned vehicles that contain the words "staff officer" or any other title except as otherwise provided by law.
E. All registration plates for private vehicles shall be alike in form except for the owner's registration number. The department shall adopt registration number systems for registration plates.
F. In lieu of or in addition to a registration plate or sticker for commercial motor vehicles, the department may issue an electronic identifying device.
History: 1953 Comp., § 64-3-14, enacted by Laws 1978, ch. 35, § 34; 1981, ch. 361, § 6; 1990, ch. 107, § 1; 1995, ch. 135, § 11.
ANNOTATIONSCross references. — For special registration plates generally, see 66-3-401 NMSA 1978 et seq.
For special plates for congressmen, see 66-3-405 NMSA 1978.
For special plates for radio station licensees, see 66-3-417 NMSA 1978.
The 1995 amendment, effective June 16, 1995, substituted "department" for "division" throughout the section; in the section heading, deleted "county designation; appropriation" following "material"; in Subsection A, rewrote the last sentence which previously read: "The decision to issue a plate or a validating sticker shall be made by the director"; deleted former Subsections B through E, relating to license plate replacement procedures and fees; redesignated Subsections G through J as Subsections B through E; in Subsection B, deleted "Beginning in 1978, as new plates are issued" preceding "The colors"; in Subsection C, made minor stylistic changes and deleted Paragraph (3) requiring the license plate to display the county name; in Subsection E, deleted "and the county indication" at the end of the first sentence; and added Subsection F.
The 1990 amendment, effective March 5, 1990, designated the former third and fourth sentences of Subsection A as Subsection G; added present Subsections B to F; in Subsection G, substituted "is plainly legible" for "shall be plainly legible" in the first sentence and "colors shall include" for "colors shall be" in the second sentence; and redesignated former Subsections C to E as present Subsections H to J.
"Lieutenant-governor's aide" or "advisor" cannot be put on plate. — The department of motor vehicles (now motor vehicle division) may not issue a license plate having on it "lieutenant-governor's aide" or "lieutenant-governor's advisor." 1967 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 67-114.
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 7A Am. Jur. 2d Automobiles and Highway Traffic § 54.
Improper use of automobile license plates as affecting liability or right to recover for injuries, death or damages in consequence of automobile accident, 99 A.L.R.2d 904.
60 C.J.S. Motor Vehicles §§ 105 to 108.