The Weighmaster Act (Chapter 57-18-1 through 26, NMSA 1978 Compilation, as amended by Chapter 80, Laws of 1979) requires that anyone who does public weighing and charges for the service or issues a signed weight certificate as a third party must have a weighmaster license. As owner or operator of a large capacity scale, you may be subject to the Weighmaster Act and need to be licensed as a weighmaster. Employees or others who do the weighing, should be licensed as deputy weighmasters.

The annual license fee is one hundred dollars($100) for weighmasters and twenty five dollars ($25) for each deputy. Also, each weighmaster must furnish a bond. If the complete application for renewal of registration is not filed prior to the expiration of the current registration, a late registration fee of twenty five dollars ($25) shall be charged in addition to the annual registration fees. All fees shall accompany the application for registration. This can be a corporate surety bond in the amount of one thousand dollars ($1,000), a certificate of deposit in the amount of one thousand dollars ($1,000), or a personal bond with five thousand dollars ($5,000) in liquid assets.

Deputy weighmasters are listed on the application. Once the weighmaster is licensed, we will proceed to license the deputies.

Section 12 of the Weighmaster Act gives the director of the New Mexico Department of Agriculture authority to prescribe the form of weight certificate used by each weighmaster.  A draft of your weight certificate must be submitted for approval before the license is issued. Thereafter, you will be required to provide a copy of your current weight certificate annually to the New Mexico Department of Agriculture. You may use any size or design of weight certificate which meets the requirements as outlined, provided it has been approved by the New Mexico Department of Agriculture.

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