2023 Tennessee Code › Title 56 - INSURANCE (§§ 56-1-101 — 56-61-125) › Chapter 25 - FRATERNAL BENEFIT SOCIETIES (§§ 56-25-101 — 56-25-704) › Part 7 - MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS (§§ 56-25-701 — 56-25-704) › Section 56-25-704 - Exempted societies and associations

(a)
Nothing contained in this chapter shall be so construed as to affect or apply to:
(1)
Grand or subordinate lodges of Masons, Odd Fellows, or Knights of Pythias (exclusive of the insurance department of the Supreme Lodge, Knights of Pythias) and the Junior Order of the United American Mechanics (exclusive of the beneficiary degree or insurance branch of the National Council Junior Order United American Mechanics), nor to similar societies that do not issue insurance certificates;
(2)
Orders, societies or associations that admit to membership only persons engaged in one (1) 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 the orders, societies or associations. No domestic order, society or association that is, on January 1, 1991, operating under a certificate of authority issued by the commissioner shall be exempt by reason of this subdivision (a)(2);
(3)
An association of local lodges or a society now doing business in this state that provides death benefits not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500) to any one (1) person, or disability benefits not exceeding three hundred dollars ($300) to any one (1) person, or both, nor to any contracts or reinsurance business on such plan in this state;
(4)
Domestic societies that limit their membership to employees of a particular city or town, designated firm, business house or corporation that provide for a death benefit of not more than four hundred dollars ($400) or disability benefits of not more than three hundred fifty dollars ($350) to any person in any one (1) year, or both; or
(5)
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 (1) person in any one (1) year, or both.
(b)
Any such society or association described in subdivision (a)(4) or (a)(5) that provides for death or disability benefits for which benefit certificates are issued, and any such society or association included in subdivision (a)(5) that has more than one thousand (1,000) members shall not be exempted from this chapter, but shall comply with all requirements of this chapter.
(c)
No society which, by the provisions of this section, is exempt from the requirements of this chapter, except any society described in subdivision (a)(2) shall give or allow, or promise to give or allow, to any person more than one dollar ($1.00) per capita as 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 this chapter except that the provisions thereof relating to medical examinations, valuations of benefit certificates, and incontestability do not apply to such society.
(e)
The commissioner may require from any society or association, by examination or otherwise, the information that will enable the commissioner to determine whether the society or association is exempt from this chapter.
(f)
Societies exempt under this section are also exempt from all other provisions of the general insurance laws of this state.
Acts 1990, ch. 703, § 1.