§ 4502. Exemption of certain societies
(a) Nothing contained in this chapter shall be so construed as to affect or apply to:
(1) grand or subordinate lodges of societies, orders, or associations now doing business in this State which provide benefits exclusively through local or subordinate lodges;
(2) orders, societies, or associations which admit to membership only persons engaged in one or more crafts or hazardous occupations, in the same or similar lines of business, insuring only their own members, their families, and descendants of members, and the ladies' societies, or ladies' auxiliaries to the orders, societies, or associations;
(3) domestic societies which limit their membership to employees of a particular city or town, designated firm, business house, or corporation which provide for a death benefit of not more than $400.00 or disability benefits of not more than $350.00 to any person in any one year, or both; or
(4) domestic societies or associations of a purely religious, charitable, or benevolent description, which provide for a death benefit of not more than $400.00 or for disability benefits of not more than $350.00 to any one person in any one year, or both.
(b) A society or association described in subdivision (a)(3) or (4) of this section which provides for death or disability benefits for which benefit certificates are issued, and society or association included in subdivision (a)(4) which has more than 1,000 members, is not exempted from the provisions of this chapter but shall comply with all its requirements.
(c) No society which, by the provisions of this section, is exempt from the requirements of this chapter, except any society described in subdivision (a)(2) of this section, shall give or allow, or promise to give or allow to any person any compensation for procuring new members.
(d) A society which provides for benefits in case of death or disability resulting solely from accident, and which does not obligate itself to pay natural death or sick benefits shall have all of the privileges and be subject to all the applicable provisions and regulations of this chapter except that the provisions thereof relating to medical examination, valuations of benefit certificates, and incontestability, shall not apply to the society.
(e) The Commissioner of Financial Regulation may require from any society or association, by examination or otherwise, such information as will enable him or her to determine whether the society or association is exempt from the provisions of this chapter.
(f) Societies, exempted under the provisions of this section, shall also be exempt from all other provisions of the insurance laws of this State. (Added 1959, No. 197, § 42, eff. Nov. 22, 1959; amended 1989, No. 225 (Adj. Sess.), § 25(b); 1995, No. 180 (Adj. Sess.), § 38(a); 2011, No. 78 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. April 2, 2012.)