GA Code § 33-14-5 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 33 - Insurance|Chapter 14 - Domestic Stock and Mutual Insurers|Article 1 - General Provisions|§ 33-14-5. Filing of Application for Charter; Fee; Certification and Publication of Application; Approval or Disapproval of Charter

  The application for charter with any and all exhibits that may be included with the application shall be filed in triplicate in the office of the Commissioner of Insurance and a fee of $100.00 shall be paid to the Commissioner to be paid by him or her into the state treasury. The Commissioner shall not receive the application until the fee shall be paid.   Immediately upon receipt of the triplicate copies of the application, with any and all exhibits included with the application, the Commissioner shall certify one of the copies of the application and deliver the same to the applicants and the same shall be published by the applicants once a week for four weeks in the newspaper in which is published the legal advertisements of the county where the principal office of the company is to be located. When the application with any and all exhibits attached to it shall have been published once a week for four weeks, the applicants may apply to the judge of the probate court of the county to certify the fact of such publication, which certificate shall be filed by the applicants in the office of the Commissioner of Insurance.   The Commissioner shall approve or disapprove the application within 45 days of the date the application is received by the Commissioner.   The Commissioner shall examine the application to determine whether the charter, if granted, will enable the insurer to comply with the applicable insurance laws of this state; and, if the Commissioner finds that the charter, if granted, will enable the insurer to comply with the applicable provisions of law for carrying on the business for which incorporation is sought, the Commissioner shall issue under his or her hand and official seal a certificate approving the granting of the charter for such insurer and shall transmit a copy of the certificate of approval to the Secretary of State.   If the Commissioner finds that the proposed application for a charter does not comply with the law, or that the corporation, if organized, could not meet the requirements for a certificate of authority as set forth in this chapter or any other provision of this title, the Commissioner shall refuse to approve the application for charter and shall notify the incorporators in writing, as to his or her reasons for such failure to approve; and the Commissioner shall issue under his or her hand and official seal a certificate disapproving the granting of the charter for such insurer.    (Ga. L. 1893, p. 73, § 3; Civil Code 1895, § 2011; Civil Code 1910, § 2392; Code 1933, § 56-205; Code 1933, § 56-1505, enacted by Ga. L. 1960, p. 289, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 33; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1307, § 1.)   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL   Secretary of State not required to determine if Commissioner has acted in time.    - Former Code 1933, §§ 56-1505(3) and 56-1506(2) and (3) (see subsection (c) of this Code section and O.C.G.A. § 33-14-6(b) and (c)) do not place any burden or duty on the Secretary of State to ascertain that the approval of the Commissioner was given within the 45-day limit; the 45-day limit specified in subsection (c) of former Code 1933, § 56-1505 was inserted to protect the applicant from too long an investigation by the Commissioner; a law intended to benefit an applicant should not be interpreted to the applicant's detriment. 1972 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 72-76.   Company surviving merger of domestic companies must apply for charter.   - Where a domestic insurance company merges with another domestic insurance company, the resulting company is a new and distinct corporation, and an application for a new charter has to be filed with the Secretary of State in order to secure a new certificate of incorporation. 1963-65 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 19.   Section must be complied with if one or both merging companies are domestic.    - Former Code 1933, § 56-1534 (see O.C.G.A. § 33-14-43), insofar as it requires compliance with this section and former Code 1933, § 56-1506 (see O.C.G.A. § 33-14-6), can apply only where there is a merger of two domestic insurance companies or a merger of a domestic insurance company and a foreign insurance company, with the survivor being a Georgia company. 1963-65 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 19.   Approval is required regardless of domicile of surviving company.   - This section requires exercise of the approval authority with respect to merger applications, regardless of the domicile of the surviving corporation. 1972 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 72-152.    Former Code 1933, § 22-1008 (see O.C.G.A. § 14-2-1107), considered along with former Code 1933, § 56-1505 (see O.C.G.A. § 33-14-5), impelled the conclusion that the Commissioner was required to exercise approval authority with respect to the merger of a domestic stock insurer into a foreign stock insurer even when the surviving corporation was domiciled outside this state. 1972 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 72-152.   RESEARCH REFERENCES   Am. Jur. 2d.   - 43 Am. Jur. 2d, Insurance, § 62.   C.J.S.   - 44 C.J.S., Insurance, §§ 162, 500, 611.