Agents or department employees shall remit all money received by them in the carrying out of the duty imposed upon them by the Motor Vehicle Code [66-1-1 NMSA 1978], including administrative fees. The agents' reports are subject to audit and acceptance by the department. Before undertaking a duty on behalf of the director, the agents shall execute a surety bond, in an amount required by the director and in the form required of public officials by law. The department shall designate those employees required to be covered by a bond.

History: 1953 Comp., § 64-2-15, enacted by Laws 1978, ch. 35, § 19; 1990, ch. 120, § 22; 2007, ch. 319, § 11.

Compiler's notes. — Section 10-2-15 NMSA 1978 prohibits state agencies from purchasing any employee surety bond except pursuant to the Surety Bond Act, 10-2-13 NMSA 1978.

The 2007 amendment, effective June 15, 2007, changed "agents' administrative fees" to "administrative fees".

The 1990 amendment, effective July 1, 1990, substituted "department employees" for "assigned division employees" in two places in the catchline and in one place in the first sentence, deleted "designated by the director to act for him" following "employees" and substituted "the Motor Vehicle Code" for "their appointment or assignment to the director" in the first sentence, deleted the former second sentence which read "Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 64-6-23 NMSA 1953, the agents' administrative service fees, after audit and acceptance of the agents' reports by the director, shall be remitted to the agents", added the present second sentence, substituted "requires" for "shall require" in the third sentence, and, in the last sentence, substituted "department" for "director" in two places and "such employees" for "all assigned employees".

All fees must be remitted to director. — Plan to have agent receive fees while working in a regular office violated Section 64-2-18, 1953 Comp. (similar to this Section 66-2-14 NMSA 1978), and also Section 64-2-19, 1953 Comp. (similar to this section), where the money was remitted to the division and not to the commissioner (now secretary). 1967 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 67-98.

Existing bonds met former provision's requirements. — Presently existing bonds of city officials of a city designated distributor of license plates are sufficient to meet the requirements of Laws 1959, ch. 6, § 2 (Section 64-2-19, 1953 Comp., similar to this section), if these bonds are approved by the commissioner (now secretary) as to amount and are amended to provide for these officials' added responsibility. 1959 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 59-84.