(a) Except as otherwise provided in Sections 10489.6, 10489.9, and 10489.95, reserves according to the commissioners reserve valuation method, for the life insurance and endowment benefits of policies providing for a uniform amount of insurance and requiring the payment of uniform premiums shall be the excess, if any, of the present value, at the date of valuation, of the future guaranteed benefits provided for by those policies, over the then present value of any future modified net premiums therefor. The modified net premiums for a policy shall be the uniform percentage of the respective contract premiums for the benefits such that the present value, at the date of issue of the policy, of all modified net premiums shall be equal to the sum of the then present value of the benefits provided for by the policy and the excess of paragraph (1) over paragraph (2), as follows:

(1) A net level annual premium equal to the present value, at the date of issue of the benefits provided for after the first policy year, divided by the present value, at the date of issue, of an annuity of one per annum payable on the first and each subsequent anniversary of the policy on which a premium falls due. However, the net level annual premium shall not exceed the net level annual premium on the 19-year premium whole life plan for insurance of the same amount at an age one year higher than the age at issue of the policy.

(2) A net one-year term premium for the benefits provided for in the first policy year.

(b) For a life insurance policy issued on or after January 1, 1986, for which the contract premium in the first policy year exceeds that of the second year and for which no comparable additional benefit is provided in the first year for the excess and that provides an endowment benefit or a cash surrender value or a combination in an amount greater than the excess premium, the reserve according to the commissioners reserve valuation method as of any policy anniversary occurring on or before the assumed ending date defined herein as the first policy anniversary on which the sum of any endowment benefit and any cash surrender value then available is greater than the excess premium shall, except as otherwise provided in Section 10489.9, be the greater of the reserve as of the policy anniversary calculated as described in subdivision (a) and the reserve as of the policy anniversary calculated as described in subdivision (a), but with (1) the value defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) being reduced by 15 percent of the amount of the excess first year premium, (2) all present values of benefits and premiums being determined without reference to premiums or benefits provided for by the policy after the assumed ending date, (3) the policy being assumed to mature on that date as an endowment, and (4) the cash surrender value provided on that date being considered as an endowment benefit. In making the above comparison, the mortality and interest bases stated in Sections 10489.2 and 10489.4 shall be used.

(c) Reserves according to the commissioners reserve valuation method shall be calculated by a method consistent with subdivisions (a) and (b) for paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive. However, any extra premiums charged because of impairments or special hazards shall be disregarded in the determination of modified net premiums.

(1) Life insurance policies providing for a varying amount of insurance or requiring the payment of varying premiums.

(2) Group annuity and pure endowment contracts purchased under a retirement plan or plan of deferred compensation, established or maintained by an employer (including a partnership or sole proprietorship) or by an employee organization, or by both, other than a plan providing individual retirement accounts or individual retirement annuities pursuant to Section 408 of the Internal Revenue Code, as now or hereafter amended.

(3) Disability and accidental death benefits in all policies and contracts.

(4) All other benefits, except life insurance and endowment benefits in life insurance policies and benefits provided by all other annuity and pure endowment contracts.

(Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 658, Sec. 11. (SB 696) Effective January 1, 2016.)