Session Laws Chapter 299

ENTITLED, An Act to repeal and reenact the standard nonforfeiture statute for individual deferred annuities.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA:

Section 1. That § § 58-15-72 to 58-15-81, inclusive, be repealed.

Section 2. That chapter 58-15 be amended by adding thereto a NEW SECTION to read as follows:

This Act does not apply to any reinsurance, group annuity 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 under Section 408 of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended to January 1, 1977, premium deposit fund, variable annuity, investment annuity, immediate annuity, any deferred annuity contract after annuity payments have commenced, or reversionary annuity, nor to any contract which shall be delivered outside this state through an agent or other representative of the company issuing the contract.

Section 3. That chapter 58-15 be amended by adding thereto a NEW SECTION to read as follows:

In the case of contracts issued on or after the operative date of this Act as defined in section 13 of this Act, no contract of annuity, except as stated in section 2 of this Act, may be delivered or issued for delivery in this state unless it contains in substance the following provisions, or corresponding provisions which in the opinion of the director are at least as favorable to the contract holder, upon cessation of payment of considerations under the contract:

(1) That upon cessation of payment of considerations under a contract, or upon the written request of the contract owner, the company shall grant a paid-up annuity benefit on a plan stipulated on the contract of such value as is specified in sections 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 of this Act;

(2) If a contract provides for a lump sum settlement at maturity, or at any other time, that upon surrender of the contract at or prior to the commencement of any annuity payments, the company shall pay in lieu of a paid-up annuity benefit a cash surrender benefit of such amount as is specified in sections 5, 6, 8, and 10 of this Act. The company may reserve the right to defer the payment of the cash surrender benefit for a period not to exceed six months after demand therefor with surrender of the contract after making written request and receiving written approval of the director. The request shall address the necessity and equitability to all policyholders of the deferral;

(4) A statement that any paid-up annuity, cash surrender, or death benefits that may be available under the contract are not less than the minimum benefits required by any statute of the state in which the contract is delivered and an explanation of the manner in which the benefits are altered by the existence of any additional amounts credited by the company to the contract, and indebtedness to the company on the contact, or any prior withdrawals from or partial surrenders of the contract.

Notwithstanding the requirements of this section, a deferred annuity contract may provide that if no considerations have been received under a contract for a period of two full years and the portion of the paid-up annuity benefit at maturity on the plan stipulated in the contract arising from prior considerations paid would be less than twenty dollars monthly, the company may, at its option, terminate the contract by payment in cash of the then present value of the portion of the paid-up annuity benefit, calculated on the basis on the mortality table, if any, and interest rate specified in the contract for determining the paid-up annuity benefit, and by this payment shall be relieved of any further obligation under the contract.

Section 4. That chapter 58-15 be amended by adding thereto a NEW SECTION to read as follows:

The minimum values as specified in sections 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 of this Act of any paid-up annuity, cash surrender, or death benefits available under an annuity contract shall be based upon minimum nonforfeiture amounts as defined in this section:

(1) The minimum nonforfeiture amount at any time at or prior to the commencement of any annuity payments shall be equal to an accumulation up to such time at rates of interest as indicated in the second paragraph of this section of considerations (as hereinafter defined) paid prior to such time, decreased by the sum of the following:

The interest rate used in determining minimum nonforfeiture amounts shall be an annual rate of interest determined as the lesser of three percent per annum and the following, which shall be specified in the contract if the interest rate will be reset:

(1) The five-year constant maturity treasury rate reported by the Federal Reserve as of a date, or average over a period, rounded to the nearest one-twentieth of one percent,

specified in the contract no longer than fifteen months prior to the contract issue date or redetermination date pursuant to this section;

The redetermination date, basis, and period, if any, shall be stated in the contract. The basis is the date or average over a specified period that produces the value of the five-year constant maturity treasury rate to be used at each redetermination date.

During the period or term that a contract provides substantive participation in an equity indexed benefit, it may increase the reduction described above by up to an additional one hundred basis points to reflect the value of the equity index benefit. The present value at the contract issue date, and at each redetermination date thereafter, of the additional reduction may not exceed the market value of the benefit. The director may require a demonstration that the present value of the additional reduction does not exceed the market value of the benefit. Lacking such a demonstration that is acceptable to the director, the director may disallow or limit the additional reduction.

The director may promulgate rules pursuant to chapter 1-26 to implement the provisions of this section and to provide for further adjustments to the calculation of minimum nonforfeiture amounts for contracts that provide substantive participation in an equity index benefit and for other contracts that the director determines adjustments are justified.

Section 5. That chapter 58-15 be amended by adding thereto a NEW SECTION to read as follows:

Any paid-up annuity benefit available under a contract shall be such that its present value on the date annuity payments are to commence is at least equal to the minimum nonforfeiture amount on that date. Present value shall be computed using the mortality table, if any, and the interest rates specified in the contract for determining the minimum paid-up annuity benefits guaranteed in the contract.

Section 6. That chapter 58-15 be amended by adding thereto a NEW SECTION to read as follows:

For contracts that provide cash surrender benefits, the cash surrender benefits available prior to maturity may not be less than the present value as of the date of surrender of that portion of the maturity value of the paid-up annuity benefit that would be provided under the contract at maturity arising from considerations paid prior to the time of cash surrender reduced by the amount appropriate to reflect any prior withdrawals from or partial surrenders of the contract, such present value being calculated on the basis of an interest rate not more than one percent higher than the interest rate specified in the contract for accumulating the net considerations to determine maturity value, decreased by the amount of any indebtedness to the company on the contract, including interest due and accrued, and increased by any existing additional amounts credited by the company to the contract. In no event may any cash surrender benefit be less than the minimum nonforfeiture amount at that time. The death benefit under such contracts shall be at least equal to the cash surrender benefit.

Section 7. That chapter 58-15 be amended by adding thereto a NEW SECTION to read as follows:

For contracts that do not provide cash surrender benefits, the present value of any paid-up annuity benefit available as a nonforfeiture option at any time prior to maturity may not be less than the present value of that portion of the maturity value of the paid-up annuity benefit provided under the contract arising from considerations paid prior to the time the contract is surrendered in exchange for, or changed to, a deferred paid-up annuity, such present value being calculated for the period prior to the maturity date on the basis of the interest rate specified in the contract for accumulating the net considerations to determine maturity value, and increased by any additional amounts credited by the company to the contract. For contracts that do not provide any death benefits prior to the commencement of any annuity payments, present values shall be calculated on the basis of such interest rate and the mortality table specified in the contract for determining the maturity value of the paid-up annuity benefit. However, in no event may the present value of a paid-up annuity benefit be less than the minimum nonforfeiture amount at that time.

Section 8. That chapter 58-15 be amended by adding thereto a NEW SECTION to read as follows:

For the purpose of determining the benefits calculated under sections 6 and 7 of this Act, in the case of annuity contracts under which an election may be made to have annuity payments commence at optional maturity dates, the maturity date shall be deemed to be the latest date for which election shall be permitted by the contract, but may not be deemed to be later than the anniversary of the contract next following the annuitant's seventieth birthday or the tenth anniversary of the contract, whichever is later.

Section 9. That chapter 58-15 be amended by adding thereto a NEW SECTION to read as follows:

A contract that does not provide cash surrender benefits or does not provide death benefits at least equal to the minimum nonforfeiture amount prior to the commencement of any annuity payments shall include a statement in a prominent place in the contract that such benefits are not provided.

Section 10. That chapter 58-15 be amended by adding thereto a NEW SECTION to read as follows:

Any paid-up annuity, cash surrender, or death benefits available at any time, other than on the contract anniversary under any contract with fixed scheduled considerations, shall be calculated with allowance for the lapse of time and the payment of any scheduled considerations beyond the beginning of the contract year in which cessation of payment of considerations under the contract occurs.

Section 11. That chapter 58-15 be amended by adding thereto a NEW SECTION to read as follows:

For a contract which provides, within the same contract by rider or supplemental contract provision, both annuity benefits and life insurance benefits that are in excess of the greater of cash surrender benefits or a return of the gross considerations with interest, the minimum nonforfeiture benefits shall be equal to the sum of the minimum nonforfeiture benefits for the annuity portion and the minimum nonforfeiture benefits, if any, for the life insurance portion computed as if each portion were a separate contract. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 of this Act, additional benefits payable in the event of total and permanent disability, as reversionary annuity or deferred reversionary annuity benefits, or as other policy benefits additional to life insurance, endowment and annuity benefits, and considerations for all such additional benefits, shall be disregarded in ascertaining the minimum nonforfeiture amounts, paid-up annuity, cash surrender, and death benefits that may be required by this Act. The inclusion of such benefits may not be required in any paid-up benefits, unless the additional benefits separately would require minimum nonforfeiture amounts, paid-up annuity, cash surrender, and death benefits.

Section 12. That chapter 58-15 be amended by adding thereto a NEW SECTION to read as follows:

After the effective date of this Act, a company may elect to apply its provisions to annuity contracts on a contract form-by-contract form basis before the second anniversary of the effective date of this Act. In all other instances, this Act shall become operative with respect to annuity contracts issued by the company after the second anniversary of this Act.