Section 4522. Exemptions of certain organizations

(a) Except as provided in
  subsection   (b)   hereof   the   following   societies,   corporations,
  unincorporated associations, and other  organizations  shall  be  exempt
  from the provisions of this chapter requiring the obtaining of a license
  to  do  an  insurance  business  and from all other requirements of this
  chapter except those provided in subsections  (c)  and  (d)  hereof  and
  except  section  three  thousand  two hundred nine and the provisions of
  article seventy-four of this chapter:
    (1) Organizations of workmen of the same trade or  of  several  allied
  trades  maintained for the purpose of securing by united action the most
  favorable conditions as regards wages, hours and  conditions  of  labor,
  and  the  protection  of  their  individual rights in the prosecution of
  their trade or trades.
    (2) Organizations which limit their membership to the employees  of  a
  particular  city  or  town,  or  of a designated business corporation or
  firm, or of one or more business corporations or firms  having  business
  interests  in  common, except as otherwise provided in subsection (f) of
  section one thousand  one  hundred  eight  of  this  chapter.  Any  such
  organization   which  limits  its  membership  to  the  employees  of  a
  corporation having more than five thousand  employees  may  provide  for
  hospital,  surgical  and  medical  benefits for the employee, his or her
  spouse, and his or her child or children not over eighteen years of age.
    (3) Organizations of a religious, charitable, benevolent or  fraternal
  character,  which  are  not  organized  or  maintained primarily for the
  purpose of providing insurance benefits, and which have  not  more  than
  fifteen  hundred  members  who  are  or may be entitled to any insurance
  benefits unless the organization obligates itself to pay a death benefit
  of more than five hundred dollars on the death of  any  one  member,  or
  disability  benefits of more than three hundred fifty dollars to any one
  person in any one year, or both.
    (4) Organizations which limit their membership to persons  engaged  in
  one  or  more  occupations  in the same or similar lines of business and
  which, together with  their  legal  predecessors  or  affiliated  bodies
  continuously  paid  or  provided  for the payment of death or disability
  benefits to their members for a period of not less  than  fifteen  years
  prior to January first, nineteen hundred forty.
    (5)  Any  organization  of  a  religious,  charitable,  benevolent  or
  fraternal character, which is not organized or maintained primarily  for
  the  purpose  of  providing  insurance  benefits,  which  have furnished
  hospital benefits to its members under a plan where the  maximum  charge
  for  such  benefits  is not in excess of two dollars per annum and which
  was in operation for ten years prior to March  first,  nineteen  hundred
  forty-one,  or which obligates itself to pay a death benefit of not more
  than one hundred dollars on the death of any one member, and has been in
  operation for more than twenty-five years prior to March first, nineteen
  hundred fifty.
    (6) Organizations  which  limit  their  membership  to  members  of  a
  fraternal benefit society organized under the provisions of this chapter
  and  which  provide either cemetery benefits, or funeral benefits not in
  excess of seventy-five dollars for any one interment, or both, for  such
  member,  his  or  her  spouse  or  his or her child or children not over
  twenty-one years of age.
    (b) The foregoing exemptions shall not apply to:
    (1) any organization which is incorporated or organized under the laws
  of, or has its principal office or  headquarters  in,  any  province  or
  country outside of the United States,
    (2)  any  organization,  except  one  specified  in  paragraph  two of
  subsection (a) hereof, which makes or issues annuity contracts,

    (3) any organization of any of the kinds specified in  paragraph  two,
  three  or  five  of  subsection  (a)  hereof  if  it gives or allows, or
  promises to give or allow, to any person any compensation for  procuring
  new members, or
    (4)  any subordinate lodge of any society providing insurance benefits
  to its members.
    (c) The superintendent may  require  from  any  organization  claiming
  exemption under subsection (a) hereof, by examination in accordance with
  section   three   hundred  ten  of  this  chapter,  or  otherwise,  such
  information as will enable him to determine whether such organization is
  exempt under this section.
    (d)  No  organization  of  the  kinds  hereinbefore  specified   which
  obligates  itself  to  pay  life  insurance  or  accident  or  health or
  disability insurance benefits  to  its  members  shall  make,  issue  or
  deliver  in this state any certificate or other written evidence of such
  obligation unless the same shall have conspicuously printed on the first
  page thereof in bold-faced type not smaller than ten point the following
  statement: "This organization does not operate under the supervision  of
  the New York State Insurance Department."