§317.  Exemption of certain societies

A.  Nothing contained in this Subpart shall be 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 and their families, and the ladies' societies or ladies' auxiliaries to such 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 four hundred dollars or disability benefits of not more than three hundred fifty dollars to any person in any one year, or both.

(4)  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.

B.  Any such society or association described in Paragraphs (3) or (4) of Subsection A of this Section which provides for death or disability benefits for which benefit certificates are issued, and any such society or association included in Paragraph (4) of Subsection A of this Section which has more than one thousand members, shall not be exempted from the provisions of this Subpart, but shall comply with all requirements thereof.

C.  No society which, by the provisions of this Section, is exempt from the requirements of this Subpart, except any society described in Paragraph (2) of Subsection A of this Section shall give or allow, or promise to give or allow to any person any compensation for procuring new members.

D.  Every 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 Subpart, except that the provisions thereof relating to medical examination, valuations of benefit certificates, and incontestability shall not apply to such society.

E.  The commissioner of insurance may require from any society or association, by examination or otherwise, such information as will enable the commissioner to determine whether the society or association is exempt from the provisions of this Subpart.

F.  Societies exempted under the provisions of this Section shall also be exempt from all other provisions of the insurance laws of this state.

Acts 1958, No. 125.  Acts 1987, No. 470, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1988; Redesignated from R.S. 22:578 by Acts 2008, No. 415, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2009.