There is created a nonprofit, unincorporated legal entity to be known as the North Carolina Insurance Guaranty Association. All insurers defined as member insurers in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 58-48-20(6) shall be and remain members of the Association as a condition of their authority to transact insurance in this State. The Association shall perform its functions under a plan of operation established and approved under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 58-48-40 and shall exercise its powers through a board of directors established under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 58-48-30. For purposes of administration and assessment, the Association shall be divided into three separate accounts: (i) the automobile insurance account; (ii) the workers’ compensation account; and (iii) the account for all other insurance to which the Article applies. Each person becoming a member insurer after October 1, 1985, shall pay to the Association upon demand a nonrefundable initial membership fee of fifty dollars ($50.00). (1971, c. 670, s. 1; 1985, c. 613, s. 4; 1991 (Reg. Sess., 1992), c. 802, s. 3.)