As used in this article:

(a) “Account” means either of the two accounts created under Section 1067.05.

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(b) “Association” means the California Life and Health Insurance Guarantee Association created pursuant to Section 1067.05.

(c) “Authorized assessment” means an assessment, to be called immediately or in the future from member insurers for a specified amount, that is authorized by a resolution of the board of directors. “Authorized,” when used in the context of assessments, means authorized by a resolution of the board of directors. An assessment is authorized when this resolution is passed.

(d) “Benefit plan” means a specific employee, union, or association of natural persons benefit plan.

(e) “Called assessment” means an assessment as to which a notice has been issued by the association to member insurers requiring that an authorized assessment be paid within a timeframe set forth in the notice. “Called,” when used in the context of assessments, means required by notice to be paid by member insurers. An authorized assessment becomes a called assessment when notice is mailed by the association to member insurers.

(f) “Commissioner” means the Insurance Commissioner.

(g) “Contractual obligation” means any obligation under a policy or contract, or certificate under a group policy or contract, or portion thereof, for which coverage is provided under Section 1067.02.

(h) “Covered policy” means a policy or contract or portion of a policy or contract for which coverage is provided under Section 1067.02.

(i) “Extracontractual claims” shall include, for example, claims relating to bad faith in the payment of claims, punitive or exemplary damages, or attorney’s fees and costs.

(j) “Impaired insurer” means a member insurer which, after the effective date of this article, is not an insolvent insurer, and is placed under an order of rehabilitation or conservation by a court of competent jurisdiction.

(k) “Insolvent insurer” means a member insurer that, after October 1, 1990, is placed under an order of liquidation by a court of competent jurisdiction with a finding of insolvency.

(l) “Member insurer” means any insurer licensed or which holds a certificate of authority to transact in this state any kind of insurance for which coverage is provided under Section 1067.02 and includes any insurer whose license or certificate of authority in this state may have been suspended, revoked, not renewed, or voluntarily withdrawn, but does not include any of the following:

(1) A hospital or medical service organization, whether for profit or nonprofit.

(2) A health maintenance organization.

(3) A fraternal benefit society.

(4) A mandatory state pooling plan.

(5) A mutual assessment company or other person that operates on an assessment basis.

(6) An insurance exchange.

(7) An organization that has a certificate or license limited to the issuance of charitable gift annuities.

(8) A grants and annuities society holding a certificate of authority under Section 11520.

(9) An entity similar to any of the above.

(m) “Moody’s Corporate Bond Yield Average” means the Monthly Average Corporates as published by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc., or any successor thereto.

(n) “Owner” of a policy or contract and “policy owner” and “contract owner” mean the person who is identified as the legal owner under the terms of the policy or contract or who is otherwise vested with legal title to the policy or contract through a valid assignment completed in accordance with the terms of the policy or contract and properly recorded as the owner on the books of the insurer. The terms owner, contract owner, and policy owner do not include persons with a mere beneficial interest in a policy or contract.

(o) “Person” means an individual, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, association, governmental body or entity, or voluntary organization.

(p) “Plan sponsor” means any of the following:

(1) The employer in the case of a benefit plan established or maintained by a single employer.

(2) The employee organization in the case of a benefit plan established or maintained by an employee organization.

(3) In a case of a benefit plan established or maintained by two or more employers or jointly by one or more employers and one or more employee organizations, the association, committee, joint board of trustees, or other similar group of representatives of the parties who establish or maintain the benefit plan.

(q) (1) “Premiums” means amounts or considerations, by whatever name called, received on covered policies or contracts less returned premiums, considerations, and deposits and less dividends and experience credits.

(2) “Premiums” does not include amounts or considerations received for policies or contracts or for the portions of policies or contracts for which coverage is not provided under subdivision (b) of Section 1067.02, except that assessable premium shall not be reduced on account of subparagraph (C) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 1067.02 relating to interest limitations and paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) of Section 1067.02 relating to limitations with respect to one individual, one participant, and one contract owner.

(3) “Premiums” does not include any of the following:

(A) Premiums on an unallocated annuity contract.

(B) With respect to multiple nongroup policies of life insurance owned by one owner, whether the policy owner is an individual, firm, corporation, or other person, and whether the persons insured are officers, managers, employees, or other persons, premiums in excess of five million dollars ($5,000,000) with respect to these policies or contracts, regardless of the number of policies or contracts held by the owner.

(r) (1) “Principal place of business” of a plan sponsor or a person other than a natural person means the single state in which the natural persons who establish policy for the direction, control, and coordination of the operations of the entity as a whole primarily exercise that function, determined by the association in its reasonable judgment by considering all the following factors:

(A) The state in which the primary executive and administrative headquarters of the entity are located.

(B) The state in which the principal office of the chief executive officer of the entity is located.

(C) The state in which the board of directors, or similar governing persons, of the entity conducts the majority of its meetings.

(D) The state in which the executive or management committee of the board of directors, or similar governing persons, of the entity conducts the majority of its meetings.

(E) The state from which the management of the overall operations of the entity is directed.

(F) In the case of a benefit plan sponsored by affiliated companies comprising a consolidated corporation, the state in which the holding company or controlling affiliate has its principal place of business as determined using the above factors. However, in the case of a plan sponsor, if more than 50 percent of the participants in the benefit plan are employed in a single state, that state shall be deemed to be the principal place of business of the plan sponsor.

(2) The principal place of business of a plan sponsor of a benefit plan shall be deemed to be the principal place of business of the association, committee, joint board of trustees, or other similar group of representatives of the parties who establish or maintain the benefit plan that, in lieu of a specific or clear designation of a principal place of business, shall be deemed to be the principal place of business of the employer or employee organization that has the largest investment in the benefit plan in question.

(s) “Receivership court” means the court in the insolvent or impaired insurer‘s state having jurisdiction over the conservation, rehabilitation, or liquidation of the insurer.

(t) “Resident” means a person to whom a contractual obligation is owed and who resides in this state on the date of entry of a court order that determines a member insurer to be an impaired insurer or a court order that determines a member insurer to be an insolvent insurer. A person may be a resident of only one state, which in the case of a person other than a natural person shall be its principal place of business. Citizens of the United States who are either residents of foreign countries, or residents of United States’ possessions, territories, or protectorates that do not have an association similar to the association created by this article shall be deemed residents of the state of domicile of the insurer that issued the policies or contracts.

(u) “State” means a state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and a United States possession, territory, or protectorate.

(v) “Structured settlement annuity” means an annuity purchased in order to fund periodic payments for a plaintiff or other claimant in payment for, or with respect to, personal injury suffered by the plaintiff or other claimant.

(w) “Supplemental contract” means a written agreement entered into for the distribution of proceeds under a life, health, or annuity policy or a life, health, or annuity contract.

(x) “Unallocated annuity contract” means an annuity contract or group annuity certificate which is not issued to and owned by an individual, except to the extent of any annuity benefits guaranteed to an individual by an insurer under the contract or certificate.

(Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 334, Sec. 4. (SB 1408) Effective September 27, 2010.)