Section 1: Section 1 of Chapter 93I of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting, before the definition of “Person”, the new definitions:-

“hard drive”, a data storage device used for storing and retrieving digital information.

“lessee”, a person who leases office equipment containing hard drives.

“lessor”, any person leasing office equipment containing hard drives.

“office equipment”, objects containing a hard drive including, but not be limited to copiers, printers, fax machines, and central processing units (CPUs).

Section 2: Chapter 93I of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 2 the following sections:-

Section 2A. Private Sector Leased Office Equipment

When leasing office equipment to the private sector, the lessor, at the end of the lease, must allow the lessee to purchase and keep the hard drives contained in said office equipment.  The lessor may charge the lessee up to the cost of the replacement hard drives for the office equipment including, but not limited to removal of existing hard drives, purchase of comparable hard drives, and installation of said hard drives.

Section 2B. Public Sector Leased Office Equipment

When leasing office equipment to the public sector the lessor, at the end of the lease, must allow the lessee to purchase and keep the hard drives contained in said office equipment.  The lessor may charge the lessee up to the cost of the replacement hard drives for the office equipment including, but not limited to removal of existing hard drives, purchase of comparable hard drives, and installation of said hard drives.  The lessee must purchase said hard drives and is responsible for safe storage of the information contained on the hard drives or the destruction of said hard drives.