§ 6605. Organization of assessment corporations. (a) An assessment
corporation may be organized and licensed in the manner prescribed in
section six thousand six hundred three of this article and may do, in
addition to the kind of insurance specified in paragraph four of
subsection (a) of section one thousand one hundred thirteen of this
chapter, any one or more of the kinds of insurance specified in
paragraphs five, six, seven and eight of such subsection solely in
conjunction with fire insurance written under the same policy and
covering the same premises and insurance against loss or damage to
property caused by aircraft or vehicles in compliance with the following
prerequisites:

(1) It shall have not less than two hundred bona fide applications for
insurance of such kind or kinds on real property located within the
territory in which it desires to be licensed as above provided, and from
not less than two hundred separate applicants who shall have paid
advance payments of estimated annual assessments of at least two
thousand dollars for insurance aggregating not less than two hundred
thousand dollars in each county of such territory and each member shall
be subject to assessments, in addition to required advance payments,
sufficient to meet incurred losses, expenses and other legal obligations
for such insurer.

(2) It shall have a cash organization fund of not less than one
hundred fifty thousand dollars, which may be used in the manner provided
for in paragraph nine of subsection (a) of section one thousand two
hundred one of this chapter, and shall maintain at all times, a surplus
of at least one hundred thousand dollars. For an assessment corporation
licensed to do the kinds of insurance specified in paragraph nine of
subsection (a) of section one thousand one hundred thirteen of this
chapter, except as herein provided, the corporation must maintain an
additional surplus of fifty thousand dollars. The additional surplus is
not necessary if the whole risk for this peril is reinsured in an
insurance company authorized to do business in this state, or in an
accredited reinsurer, as defined in subsection (a) of section one
hundred seven of this chapter.

(3) Any assessment corporation licensed on the effective date of this
article which does not possess surplus of one hundred thousand dollars
shall be restricted to the kinds of insurance for which it was licensed
immediately prior to the effective date of this article until such time
as the required minimum surplus specified in paragraph two above is
accumulated. In no event shall the surplus of such corporation fall
below fifty thousand dollars.

(b) (1) Any licensed assessment corporation may amend its charter and
be licensed to do the kinds of insurance specified in paragraphs nine,
thirteen, fourteen and fifteen (except workers' compensation insurance)
of subsection (a) of section one thousand one hundred thirteen of this
chapter solely in conjunction with fire insurance written under the same
policy and covering the same premises, except as provided in paragraph
two of this subsection, and may be licensed to do the kinds of insurance
specified in paragraphs twelve, nineteen (excluding aircraft physical
damage insurance) and twenty (inland marine only) of such subsection.

(2) An assessment corporation licensed to write the kinds of insurance
specified in paragraphs thirteen and fourteen of subsection (a) of
section one thousand one hundred thirteen of this chapter is authorized
to write personal or commercial umbrella liability insurance.

(c) An assessment corporation may also be organized and licensed in
the manner prescribed in section six thousand six hundred three of this
article to do within all the counties of the state (except the counties
of New York, Kings, Queens, Bronx and Richmond) as an assuming insurer,
reinsurance business of a kind or kinds referred to in this section,
and, as specified in its charter, on compliance with the following
prerequisites:

(1) It shall have not less than ten bona fide applications for
reinsurance of such kind or kinds on real property located within such
counties, and from not less than ten separate applying assessment
corporations of this state providing for the payment of advance payments
in the form of estimated annual assessments of not less than ten
thousand dollars, and providing that each such ceding insurer shall, as
a member of such assuming insurer, be subject to additional assessments
sufficient to meet incurred losses, expenses and other legal obligations
for such insurer.

(2) It shall comply with the financial requirements set forth in
paragraph two of subsection (a) of this section.

(3) Such a corporation shall, pursuant to such license, do only the
business of reinsurance, and may not at any time qualify as a direct
writing assessment corporation.

(d) An assessment corporation licensed to write the kinds of insurance
specified in paragraphs thirteen and fourteen of subsection (a) of
section one thousand one hundred thirteen of this chapter authorized to
write personal or commercial umbrella liability insurance shall maintain
an additional surplus of six hundred thousand dollars if the corporation
writes personal or commercial umbrella liability insurance.

(e) Nothing in this section shall prohibit a licensed assessment
corporation from writing coverage pursuant to subsection (a) or (b) of
this section for any leaseholder of the premises.