105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4756

AN ACT

To ensure that the United States is prepared to

meet the Year 2000 computer problem.
105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4756

AN ACT

To ensure that the United States is prepared to meet the

Year 2000 computer problem.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Year 2000 Prepared3 ness Act of 1998’’.

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

5 For purposes of this Act—

6 (1) the term ‘‘end-to-end testing’’ means testing

7 data exchange software with respect to—

8 (A) the initiation of the exchange by send9 ing computers;

10 (B) transmission through intermediate

11 communications software and hardware; and

12 (C) receipt and acceptance by receiving

13 computers;

14 (2) the term ‘‘small and medium-sized busi15 nesses’’ means businesses with less than 500 em16 ployees;

17 (3) the term ‘‘Year 2000 compliant’’ means,

18 with respect to information technology, that the in19 formation technology accurately processes (including

20 calculating, comparing, and sequencing) date and

21 time data from, into, and between the 20th and 21st

22 centuries and the years 1999 and 2000, and leap

23 year calculations, to the extent that other informa24 tion technology properly exchanges date and time

25 data with it;
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1 (4) the term ‘‘Year 2000 computer problem’’

2 means, with respect to information technology, any

3 problem which prevents such technology from accu4 rately processing, calculating, comparing, or se5 quencing date or time data—

6 (A) from, into, or between—

7 (i) the 20th and 21st centuries; or

8 (ii) the years 1999 and 2000;

9 (B) with regard to leap year calculations;

10 or

11 (C) with regard to such other dates as the

12 Year 2000 Conversion Council may identify and

13 designate; and

14 (5) the term ‘‘Year 2000 Conversion Council’’

15 means the President’s Council on Year 2000 Conver16 sion established under section 2 of Executive Order

17 No. 13073, issued on February 4, 1998;

18 SEC. 3. CRITICAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES.

19 The President shall provide for the acceleration of the

20 development of business continuity plans by Federal agen21 cies necessary to ensure the uninterrupted delivery by

22 those agencies of critical mission-related services.

23 SEC. 4. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.

24 It is the sense of the Congress that—
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1 (1) the President should take a high profile na2 tional leadership position to aggressively promote

3 Year 2000 date change awareness for information

4 technology systems and sensitive infrastructure ap5 plications;

6 (2) the President should authorize the Chair of

7 the Year 2000 Conversion Council to take a leader8 ship role in resolving Year 2000 issues in any criti9 cal Federal civilian agency system that is in jeop10 ardy because of ineffective management of not meet11 ing the January 1, 2000, deadline with respect to

12 the Year 2000 computer problem;

13 (3) consistent with the spirit of the Government

14 Performance and Results Act of 1993, the Chair of

15 the Year 2000 Conversion Council, in consultation

16 with the President’s Council on Infrastructure As17 surance, officers of the Federal Government and of

18 State and local governments, and representatives of

19 the private sector, should work toward a national

20 strategy to assure that the critical infrastructures

21 and key sectors of the economy will be prepared for

22 the Year 2000 date change, with such strategy in23 cluding, for each sector, goals appropriate to each;

24 (4) the Chair of the Year 2000 Conversion

25 Council is making a significant contribution to Year
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1 2000 computer problem awareness by scheduling a

2 National Y2K Action Week for October 19 through

3 23, 1998;

4 (5) the Small Business Administration, the De5 partment of Commerce, the Department of Agri6 culture, and other appropriate Federal agencies

7 should undertake maximum efforts to assist Amer8 ican family businesses and farmers in assessing their

9 exposure to the Year 2000 computer problem, un10 dertaking the necessary remedial steps, and formu11 lating contingency plans; and

12 (6) State and local governments, as well as pri13 vate sector industry groups and companies, should

14 find ways to participate in this effort to prepare the

15 American economy for the year 2000.

16 SEC. 5. AGENCY REPORTS.

17 All Federal agency reports to the Office of Manage18 ment and Budget relating to the Year 2000 computer

19 problem shall be concurrently transmitted to the Congress,

20 including all Federal agency monthly submissions to the

21 Office of Management and Budget.

22 SEC. 6. GUIDELINES.

23 The Chair of the Year 2000 Conversion Council is

24 encouraged to develop, in consultation with industry,

25 guidelines of best practices and standards for remediation
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1 and validation with respect to the Year 2000 computer

2 problem to provide better direction for government and

3 private sector efforts.

4 SEC. 7. NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF YEAR 2000 COMPUTER

5 PROBLEM.

6 The Chair of the Year 2000 Conversion Council shall

7 submit to the Congress any national assessment of the

8 Year 2000 computer problem, conducted through or in

9 conjunction with the Year 2000 Conversion Council, cover10 ing all critical national infrastructures and key sectors of

11 the economy, including banking and finance, energy, tele12 communications, transportation, and vital human services

13 which protect the public health and safety, the water sup14 ply, housing and public buildings, and the environment.

15 SEC. 8. FEDERAL AGENCY ACTIONS.

16 To ensure that all computer operations and process17 ing can be provided without interruption by Federal agen18 cies after December 31, 1999, the head of each Federal

19 agency shall—

20 (1) take actions necessary to ensure that all

21 systems and hardware administered by the agency

22 are Year 2000 compliant, to the extent necessary to

23 ensure that no significant disruption of the oper24 ations of the agency or of the agency’s data ex25 change partners occurs, including—
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1 (A) establishing, before March 1, 1999,

2 schedules for testing and implementing new

3 data exchange formats for completing all data

4 exchange corrections, which may include na5 tional test days for end-to-end testing of critical

6 processes and associated data exchanges affect7 ing Federal, State, and local governments;

8 (B) notifying data exchange partners of

9 the implications to the agency and the exchange

10 partners if they do not make appropriate date

11 conversion corrections in time to meet the Fed12 eral schedule for implementing and testing Year

13 2000 compliant data exchange processes;

14 (C) giving priority to installing filters nec15 essary to prevent the corruption of mission-crit16 ical systems from data exchanges with non17 compliant systems; and

18 (D) developing and implementing, as part

19 of the agency’s continuity and contingency plan20 ning efforts, specific provisions for data ex21 changes that may fail, including strategies to

22 mitigate operational disruptions if data ex23 change partners do not make timely date con24 version corrections;
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1 (2) beginning not later than 30 days after the

2 date of the enactment of this Act, convene meetings

3 at least quarterly with representatives of the agen4 cy’s data exchange partners to assess implementa5 tion progress; and

6 (3) after each meeting convened pursuant to

7 paragraph (2), transmit to the Congress a report

8 summarizing—

9 (A) the results of that meeting; and

10 (B) the status of the agency’s completion

11 of key data exchange corrections, including the

12 extent of data exchange inventoried, an assess13 ment of data exchange formats agreed to with

14 data exchange partners, testing and implemen15 tation schedules, and testing and implementa16 tion completed.

17 SEC. 9. ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSI18 NESSES.

19 To ensure that the Nation’s small and medium-sized

20 businesses are prepared to meet the Year 2000 computer

21 problem challenge, the National Institute of Standards

22 and Technology, in conjunction with the Small Business

23 Administration, shall develop a Year 2000 compliance out24 reach program to assist small and medium-sized busi25 nesses. Such program shall include—
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1 (1) the development of a Year 2000 self-assess2 ment checklist;

3 (2) an explanation of the Year 2000 computer

4 problem and an identification of best practices for

5 resolving the problem;

6 (3) a list of Federal Government Year 2000 in7 formation resources; and

8 (4) a list of Year 2000 compliant products pro9 vided by the General Services Administration.

10 SEC. 10. CONSUMER AWARENESS.

11 To ensure that the Nation’s consumers are aware of

12 and prepared to meet the Year 2000 computer problem

13 challenge, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Tech14 nology, in consultation with the Consumer Product Safety

15 Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, shall de16 velop a Year 2000 consumer awareness program to assist

17 the public in becoming aware of the implications of the

18 Year 2000 computer problem. Such program shall in19 clude—

20 (1) the development of a Year 2000 self-assess21 ment checklist;

22 (2) a list of Federal Government Year 2000

23 computer problem information resources;

24 (3) a list of Year 2000 compliant products pro25 vided by the General Services Administration;
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1 (4) a series of public awareness announcements

2 or seminars on the impact of the Year 2000 com3 puter problem on consumer products and services;

4 and

5 (5) a series of public awareness announcements

6 or seminars on the potential effect that the Year

7 2000 computer problem could have on the provision

8 of services by the Federal Government to the public,

9 and the progress made in resolving the problem by

10 the Federal agencies providing those services.

Passed the House of Representatives October 13,

1998.

Attest:

Clerk.