(1) Nothing contained in this chapter shall be so construed as to 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 which admit to membership only persons engaged in 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 order, societies, or associations;

(c) 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 $1,000 or disability benefits of not more than $1,000 to any person in any one year, or both; or

(d) Domestic societies or associations of a purely religious, charitable, or benevolent description, which provide for a death benefit of not more than $1,000 or for disability benefits of not more than $1,000 to any one person in any one year, or both.

(e) Any entity that has existed and continuously operated a facility located on no less than 63 acres in this state providing residential lodging to members and their spouses for at least 66 years on or before July 1, 1989, and such facility has the residential capacity of 500 persons, is directly or indirectly owned or operated by a nationally recognized fraternal organization, is not open to the public, and accepts only its members and their spouses as residents.

(2) Any such society or association described in paragraph (1)(c) or paragraph (1)(d), which provides for death or disability benefits for which benefit certificates are issued, and any such society or association included in paragraph (1)(d) which has more than 1,000 members, shall not be exempted from the provisions of this chapter but shall comply with all requirements thereof.

(3) No society which, by the provisions of this section, is exempt from the requirements of this chapter, except any society described in paragraph (1)(b), shall give or allow or promise to give or allow to any person any compensation for procuring new members.

(4) 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 chapter, except that the provisions thereof relating to medical examination, valuations of benefit certificates, and incontestability shall not apply to such society.

(5) The office may require from any society or association, by examination or otherwise, such information as will enable the office to determine whether such society or association is exempt from the provisions of this chapter.

(6) Societies exempted under the provisions of this section shall also be exempt from all other provisions of the insurance laws of this state.

History.—ss. 4, 6, ch. 86-140; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 1, ch. 96-363; s. 1390, ch. 2003-261.