§ 41-3824 — MUTUAL INSURANCE HOLDING COMPANIES

(1) (a) A domestic mutual insurer, upon approval of the director, may reorganize by forming an insurance holding company system, which shall be designated as "a mutual insurance holding company," based upon a mutual insurance company plan and continuing the corporate existence of the reorganizing insurer as a stock insurer. The director, after a public hearing as provided in section 41-3806, Idaho Code, if satisfied that the interests of the policyholders are properly protected and that the plan of reorganization is fair and equitable to the policyholders, may approve the proposed plan of reorganization and may require as a condition of approval such modifications of the proposed plan of reorganization as the director finds necessary for the protection of the policyholders’ interests. The director may retain consultants for this purpose as provided in section 41-3806 (5), Idaho Code. A reorganization pursuant to this section is subject to the requirements of sections 41-3804 and 41-3805, Idaho Code. The director shall retain jurisdiction over a mutual insurance holding company organized pursuant to this section to assure that policyholder interests are protected.
(b) All of the initial shares of the capital stock of the reorganized insurer shall be issued to the mutual insurance holding company. The membership interests of the policyholders of the reorganized insurer shall become membership interests in the mutual insurance holding company. Policyholders of the reorganized insurer shall be members of the mutual insurance holding company in accordance with the articles of incorporation and bylaws of the mutual insurance holding company. The mutual insurance holding company shall at all times own a majority of the voting shares of the capital stock of the reorganized insurer.
(2) (a) A domestic mutual insurer, upon the approval of the director, may reorganize by merging its policyholders’ membership interests into a mutual insurance holding company formed pursuant to subsection (1) of this section and continuing the corporate existence of the reorganizing insurer as a stock insurer subsidiary of the mutual insurance holding company. The director, after a public hearing as provided in section 41-3806, Idaho Code, if satisfied that the interests of the policyholders are properly protected and that the merger is fair and equitable to the policyholders, may approve the proposed merger and may require as a condition of approval such modifications of the proposed merger as the director finds necessary for the protection of the policyholders’ interests. For this purpose, the director may retain consultants as provided in section 41-3806 (5), Idaho Code. A merger pursuant to this subsection is subject to sections 41-3804 and 41-3805, Idaho Code. The director shall retain jurisdiction over the mutual insurance holding company organized pursuant to this section to assure that policyholder interests are protected.
(b) All of the initial shares of the capital stock of the reorganized insurer shall be issued to the mutual insurance holding company. The membership interests of the policyholders of the reorganized insurance company shall become membership interests in the mutual insurance holding company. Policyholders of the reorganized insurer shall be members of the mutual insurance holding company in accordance with the articles of incorporation and bylaws of the mutual insurance holding company. The mutual insurance holding company shall at all times own a majority of the voting shares of the capital stock of the reorganized insurer. A merger of policyholders’ membership interests in a mutual insurer into a mutual insurance holding company shall be deemed to be a merger of insurance companies pursuant to section 41-2857, Idaho Code, and is subject to the requirements of section 41-2857, Idaho Code.
(c) A foreign mutual insurer that is a domestic insurer organized under chapter 3, title 41, Idaho Code, may reorganize upon the approval of the director and in compliance with the requirements of any law or rule applicable to the foreign mutual insurer by merging its policyholders’ membership interests into a mutual insurance holding company formed pursuant to subsection (1) of this section and continuing the corporate existence of the reorganizing foreign mutual insurer as a foreign stock insurer subsidiary of the mutual insurance holding company. The director, after a public hearing as provided in section 41-3806, Idaho Code, may approve the proposed merger. The director may retain consultants as provided in section 41-3806 (5), Idaho Code. A merger pursuant to this paragraph is subject to the requirements of sections 41-3804 and 41-3805, Idaho Code. The reorganizing foreign mutual insurer may remain a foreign company or foreign corporation after the merger and may be admitted to do business in this state, upon approval by the director. A foreign mutual insurer that is a party to the merger may at the same time redomesticate in this state by complying with the applicable requirements of this state and its state of domicile. The provisions of paragraph (b) of this subsection shall apply to a merger authorized under this paragraph.
(3) A mutual insurance holding company resulting from the reorganization of a domestic mutual insurer organized under chapter 21, title 30, Idaho Code, shall be incorporated pursuant to chapter 21, title 30, Idaho Code. This requirement shall supersede any conflicting provisions of chapter 21, title 30, Idaho Code. The articles of incorporation and any amendments to such articles of the mutual insurance holding company shall be subject to approval of the director in the same manner as those of an insurance company.
(4) A mutual insurance holding company is deemed to be an insurer subject to chapter 33, title 41, Idaho Code, and shall automatically be a party to any proceeding under chapter 33, title 41, Idaho Code, involving an insurer that, as a result of a reorganization pursuant to subsection (1) or (2) of this section, is a subsidiary of the mutual insurance holding company. In any proceeding under chapter 33, title 41, Idaho Code, involving the reorganized insurer, the assets of the mutual insurance holding company are deemed to be assets of the estate of the reorganized insurer for purposes of satisfying the claims of the reorganized insurer’s policyholders. A mutual insurance holding company shall not be dissolved or liquidated without the prior approval of the director or as ordered by the district court pursuant to chapter 33, title 41, Idaho Code.
(5) (a) Section 41-2855, Idaho Code, is not applicable to a reorganization or merger pursuant to this section.
(b) Section 41-2855, Idaho Code, is applicable to demutualization of a mutual insurance holding company that resulted from the reorganization of a domestic mutual insurer organized pursuant to chapter 3, title 41, Idaho Code, as if the domestic mutual insurer were a mutual life insurer.
(6) A membership interest in a domestic mutual insurance holding company shall not constitute a security as defined in section 30-14-102 (28), Idaho Code.
(7) The majority of the voting shares of the capital stock of the reorganized insurer, which is required by this section to be at all times owned by a mutual insurance holding company, shall not be conveyed, transferred, assigned, pledged, subject to a security interest or lien, encumbered or otherwise hypothecated or alienated by the mutual insurance holding company or intermediate holding company. Any conveyance, transfer, assignment, pledge, security interest, lien, encumbrance, hypothecation or alienation of, in or on the majority of the voting shares of the reorganized insurer that is required by this section to be at all times owned by a mutual insurance holding company, is in violation of the provisions of this section and shall be void in inverse chronological order of the date of such conveyance, transfer, assignment, pledge, security interest, lien, encumbrance or hypothecation or alienation, as to the shares necessary to constitute a majority of such voting shares. The majority of the voting shares of the capital stock of the reorganized insurer that is required by this section to be at all times owned by a mutual insurance holding company shall not be subject to execution and levy as provided in title 11, Idaho Code. The shares of the capital stock of the surviving or new company resulting from a merger or consolidation of two (2) or more reorganized insurers or two (2) or more intermediate holding companies that were subsidiaries of the same mutual insurance holding company are subject to the same requirements, restrictions and limitations as provided in this section to which the shares of the merging or consolidating reorganized insurers or intermediate holding companies were subject as provided in this section prior to the merger or consolidation.
(a) As used in this section, "majority of the voting shares of the capital stock of the reorganized insurer" means shares of the capital stock of the reorganized insurer that carry the right to cast a majority of the votes entitled to be cast by all of the outstanding shares of the capital stock of the reorganized insurer for the election of directors and on all other matters submitted to a vote of the shareholders of the reorganized insurer. The ownership of a majority of the voting shares of the capital stock of the reorganized insurer that is required pursuant to this section to be at all times owned by a parent mutual insurance holding company includes indirect ownership through one (1) or more intermediate holding companies in a corporate structure approved by the director. However, indirect ownership through one (1) or more intermediate holding companies shall not result in the mutual insurance holding company owning less than the equivalent of a majority of the voting shares of the capital stock of the reorganized insurer. The director shall have jurisdiction over an intermediate holding company as if it were a mutual insurance holding company.
(b) As used in this section, "intermediate holding company" means a holding company that is a subsidiary of a mutual insurance holding company and that either directly or through a subsidiary intermediate holding company has one (1) or more subsidiary-reorganized insurers of which a majority of the voting shares of the capital stock would otherwise have been required pursuant to this section to be at all times owned by the mutual insurance holding company.
(8) It is the intent of the legislature that the formation of a mutual insurance holding company shall not increase the Idaho tax burden of the mutual insurance holding company system and that a stock insurance subsidiary shall continue to be subject to Idaho insurance premium taxation in lieu of all other taxes except real property taxes as provided in section 41-405, Idaho Code. Subject to approval by the director as required under Idaho law, a stock insurance subsidiary may issue dividends or distributions to the mutual insurance holding company or any intermediate holding company and such dividends or distributions shall be excluded from the Idaho taxable income of the recipients; provided however, that such exclusion shall not apply if, in the year preceding the year in which the dividends or distributions were made, the subsidiary insurer’s liability for Idaho premium tax was less than the amount of Idaho income tax, computed after allowance for income tax credits, for which the insurer would have been liable in such year had the insurer been subject to Idaho income taxation rather than premium taxation.

Legislative History

[41-3824, added 2013, ch. 266, sec. 2, p. 676; am. 2017, ch. 58, sec. 26, p. 119.]