FILED ON: 11/15/2018

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 4969

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninetieth General Court
(2017-2018)

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An Act relative to the proper bonding and grounding of corrugated stainless steel tubing.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

Chapter 13 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 97A the following section:-

Section 97B. (a) As used in this section, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:-

“Bonding”, connecting metallic systems to establish electrical continuity and conductivity. 

“Corrugated stainless steel tubing” or “CSST”, a flexible, stainless steel pipe used to supply natural gas and propane in residential, commercial and industrial structures.  

“Grounding”, connecting to the ground or to a conductive body that extends to a ground connection.

(b) The board of registration of home inspectors shall adopt regulations to require home inspectors who, during the course of a home inspection as defined in section 221 of chapter 112, readily observe the presence of any shade of yellow CSST to notify the buyer of the property of the CSST observation in writing in the inspection report as follows: “Yellow corrugated stainless steel tubing (CSST) was observed during the course of this inspection. For safety reasons, additional bonding and grounding is recommended and is required by the latest manufacturer’s installation instructions. Proper bonding and grounding of the product can only be determined by a licensed electrical contractor.”  The regulations shall provide that the home inspector may include within the inspection report any additional details or description relating to the presence of any shade of yellow CSST observed at the property as the inspector sees fit.