A. Nothing contained in Chapter 59A, Article 44 NMSA 1978 shall be so construed as to effect or apply to:

(1) grand or subordinate lodges of societies, orders or associations now doing business in this state that provide benefits exclusively through local or subordinate lodges;

(2) 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 the ladies' societies or ladies' auxiliaries to such orders, societies or associations;

(3) domestic societies that limit their membership to employees of a particular city or town, designated firm, business house or corporation or that provide for a death benefit of not more than four hundred dollars ($400) or disability benefits of not more than three hundred dollars ($300) to any person in any one year, or both; or

(4) domestic societies or associations of a purely religious, charitable or benevolent description, that provide for a death benefit of not more than four hundred dollars ($400) or for disability benefits of not more than three hundred fifty dollars ($350) to any one person in any one year, or both.

B. Any such society or association described in Paragraph (3) or (4) of Subsection A of this section that 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 that has more than one thousand members, shall not be exempted from the provisions of Chapter 59A, Article 44 NMSA 1978 but shall comply with all requirements thereof.

C. No society which, by the provisions of this section, is exempt from the requirements of Chapter 59A, Article 44 NMSA 1978, 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 that provides for benefits in case of death or disability resulting solely from accident and that 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 Chapter 59A, Article 44 NMSA 1978 except that the provisions thereof relating to medical examination, valuations of benefit certificates and incontestability, shall not apply to such society.

E. The superintendent may require from any society or association, by examination or otherwise, such information as will enable the superintendent to determine whether such society or association is exempt from the provisions of Chapter 59A, Article 44 NMSA 1978.

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

History: 1978 Comp., § 59A-44-40, enacted by Laws 1989, ch. 388, § 40.

Repeals and reenactments. — Laws 1989, ch. 388, § 40, repealed 59A-44-40 NMSA 1978, as enacted by Laws 1984, ch. 127, § 825, relating to fees and taxes, and enacted a new section, effective January 1, 1990.