Tustin, CA Building Safety: Electrical Permits (2026)

Tustin City Code § 8106 amends the 2025 California Electrical Code with several corrosion and wiring-safety provisions the Building Division enforces through the permit process. A new subsection (L) added to Section 300.5 states that earth within the City of Tustin is generally corrosive, so unless a permittee proves to the Building Official's satisfaction that a specific project's soil is not corrosive, every electrical item embedded in or buried in the ground must get at least double, half-overlapping 10-mil plastic tape wrapping for a total of 40 mils of cover, or an approved equal protection method.

Section 310.3(B), Conductor Material, gets a new paragraph requiring copper wire for all No. 6 and smaller wiring installations citywide; the Building Official can consider aluminum wiring only for feeder lines and only on an individual, case-by-case basis where adequate safety measures can be ensured. A companion new Section 310.3(E) requires continuous inspection by an independent testing agency approved by the Building Official whenever No. 6 or smaller aluminum conductors are used on branch circuits, checking for proper torque at termination points. Section 310.10 gets a parallel addition requiring the same independent continuous-inspection standard for small aluminum conductors more generally.

Any of this electrical work, underground runs, branch-circuit wiring, or aluminum feeder installations, requires a permit issued by the Building Division before installation and inspection before it is covered or energized.