1. A. Upon application for an identification card with a four-year term, there shall be paid to the department a fee of five dollars ($5.00). Upon application for an identification card with an eight-year term, there shall be paid to the department a fee of ten dollars ($10.00). A fee shall not be charged to an applicant for an identification card if the applicant is at least seventy-five years of age or a homeless individual.
2. B. The department with the approval of the governor may increase the amount of the identification card fee by an amount not to exceed three dollars ($3.00) for the purpose of implementing an enhanced licensing system; provided that for an identification card issued for an eight-year period, the amount of the fee shall be twice the amount charged for other identification cards. The additional amounts collected pursuant to this subsection are appropriated to the department to defray the expense of the new system of licensing and for use as set forth in the provisions of Subsection F of Section 66-6-13 NMSA 1978. Unexpended and unencumbered balances from fees collected pursuant to the provisions of this subsection at the end of any fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund but shall be expended by the department in fiscal year 2010 and subsequent fiscal years.

3. C. As used in this section, "homeless individual" means an individual:

   1. (1) who lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence, including an individual who:

      1. (a) lives in the housing of another person due to that individual's loss of housing, economic hardship or other reason related to that individual's lack of a fixed residence;
      2. (b) lives in a motel, hotel, trailer park or camping ground due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations;
      3. (c) lives in an emergency or transitional shelter;
      4. (d) sleeps in a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings; or
      5. (e) lives in an automobile, a park, a public space, an abandoned building, substandard housing, a bus station, a train station or a similar setting; and

   2. (2) whose homelessness can be verified through an attestation, which shall not be required to be notarized, by one of the following:

      1. (a) a public or private governmental or nonprofit agency that provides services to homeless individuals;
      2. (b) a local education agency homeless liaison, school counselor or school nurse;
      3. (c) a social worker licensed in the state; or
      4. (d) the homeless individual.

History: 1953 Comp., § 64-5-408, enacted by Laws 1978, ch. 35, § 335; 1985, ch. 66, § 3; 1987, ch. 10, § 3; 1987, ch. 278, § 2; 1990, ch. 120, § 31; 1999, ch. 222, § 5; 2009, ch. 156, § 4; 2023, ch. 78, § 1.

ANNOTATIONS

Cross references. — For provisions regarding payment in foreign currency under the Motor Vehicle Code, see 66-6-36 NMSA 1978.

The 2023 amendment, effective June 16, 2023, removed the fee requirement for issuance of an identification card to a homeless individual, and defined "homeless individual" as used in this section; in Subsection A, after "seventy-five years of age", added "or a homeless individual"; and added Subsection C.

The 2009 amendment, effective July 1, 2009, in Subsection B, after "new system of licensing", added the remainder of the sentence and added the last sentence.

The 1999 amendment, effective July 1, 1999, in Subsection A, inserted "with a four-year term" and substituted "department" for "division" in the first sentence, and substituted "Upon application for an identification card with an eight-year term, there shall be paid to the department a fee of ten dollars ($10.00). A fee shall not be charged" for "but no fee shall be charged"; in Subsection B, inserted "provided that for an identification card issued for an eight-year period, the amount of the fee shall be twice the amount charged for other identification cards" in the first sentence, and substituted "department" for "division" in the second sentence.

The 1990 amendment, effective July 1, 1990, added the language beginning "but no fee" at the end of Subsection A, deleted former Subsection B which read "The receipts from the fees required in Subsection A of this section shall be deposited in the general fund", designated former Subsection C as present Subsection B, and substituted "department" for "director" in the first sentence thereof.