Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 6006
“Sale” means and includes:
(g) Any lease of tangible personal property in any manner or by any means whatsoever, for a consideration, except a lease of:
(5) Tangible personal property leased in substantially the same form as acquired by the lessor or leased in substantially the same form as acquired by a transferor, as to which the lessor or transferor has paid sales tax reimbursement or has paid use tax measured by the purchase price of the property. For purposes of this paragraph, “transferor” shall mean the following: