(a) On receipt of a certificate of approval issued by the department under this chapter, two or more business entities or two or more members of a trade association may join together to form a group to purchase individual workers' compensation insurance policies covering each member of the group.
(b) To be eligible to join a group, a business entity must:
(1) be engaged in a business pursuit that is the same as or similar to the other business entities participating in the group as determined by the department; or
(2) be a member of the same trade association as the other business entities participating in the group.