26.1-15.1-37. Exemption of certain societies

26.1-15.1-37. Exemption of certain societies 1. Except as otherwise provided, this chapter does not affect or apply to: a. Grand or subordinate lodges of societies, orders, or associations now doing business in this state which provide benefits exclusively through local or subordinate lodges. b. Orders, societies, or associations that 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 and their families, and auxiliaries to such orders, societies, or associations. c. Domestic societies that limit their membership to employees of a particular city, designated firm, business house, or corporation which provide for a death benefit of not more than four hundred dollars or disability benefits of not more than three hundred fifty dollars to any person in any one year, or both. d. Domestic societies or associations of a purely religious, charitable, or benevolent description which provide for a death benefit of not more than four hundred dollars or for disability benefits of not more than three hundred fifty dollars to any one person in any one year, or both. 2. Any society or association described in subdivision c or d of subsection 1 which provides for death or disability benefits for which benefit certificates are issued, and any such society or association included in subdivision d of subsection 1 which has more than one thousand members, is not exempt from this chapter but shall comply with all requirements thereof. 3. No society that, by this section, is exempt from the requirements of this chapter, except any society described in subdivision d of subsection 1, may give, allow, or promise to give or allow to any person any compensation for procuring new members. 4. Every society that 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 has all of the privileges and is subject to all the applicable provisions of this chapter, except that the provisions relating to medical examination, valuations of benefit certificates, and incontestability, do not apply to such society. 5. The commissioner may require from any society or association, by examination or otherwise, information to enable the commissioner to determine whether such society or association is exempt from this chapter. 6. Societies exempted under this section are also exempt from all other provisions of the insurance laws of this state.