District of Columbia Code
Chapter 53 - Fraternal Benefit Societies
§ 31–5333. Exemption of certain societies

(a) Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed as to affect or apply to:
(1) Grand or subordinate lodges of societies, orders, or associations now doing business in the District 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 $700 or disability benefits of not more than $650 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 $400 or for disability benefits of not more than $350 to any one person in any one year, or both; or
(5) Grand or subordinate lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, nor any grand or subordinate lodge, or other body of Free and Accepted Masons, the National Council or any subordinate council of the Junior Order United American Mechanics, the National Council or any subordinate council of the Daughters of America, the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus or any subordinate council thereof, or similar orders, associations, or societies that do not have as their principal object the issuance of benefit certificates of membership in case of death or the payment of sick, funeral, or death benefits exceeding in amount $100.
(b) Any such society or association described in subsection (a)(3) or (4) of this section which provides for death or disability benefits for which benefit certificates are issued, and any such society or association included in subsection (a)(4) of this section which has more than 1000 members, shall not be exempted from the provisions of this chapter but shall comply with all requirements thereof.
(c) No society which is exempt from the requirements of this chapter, except any society described in subsection (a)(2) 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 chapter except that the provisions thereof relating to medical examination, valuations of benefit certificates, and incontestability, shall not apply to such society.
(e) The Commissioner 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 chapter.
(f) Societies, exempted under the provisions of this section, shall also be exempt from all other provisions of the insurance laws of the District.
(Apr. 29, 1998, D.C. Law 12-86, § 1234, 45 DCR 1172.)
1981 Ed., § 35-1263.
This section is referenced in § 31-5301.

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