2011 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 66: Motor Vehicles
Article 3: Registration Laws; Security Interests; Anti-Theft Provisions; Bicycles; Equipment; Unsafe Vehicles; Off-Highway Motor Vehicles; Other Vehicles, 66-3-1 through 66-3-1103
Section 66-3-14: Registration plates or validating stickers to be furnished by department; reflective material.

66-3-14. Registration plates or validating stickers to be furnished by department; reflective material.

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.