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105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4756

To ensure that the United States is prepared to meet the Year 2000 computer

problem.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 9, 1998

Mrs. MORELLA (for herself, Mr. BARCIA, Mr. LEACH, Mr. KUCINICH, and Mr.

LAFALCE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science

A BILL

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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Year 2000 Prepared5 ness Act of 1998’’.

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

7 For purposes of this Act—

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

9 data exchange software with respect to—
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1 (A) the initiation of the exchange by send2 ing computers;

3 (B) transmission through intermediate

4 communications software and hardware; and

5 (C) receipt and acceptance by receiving

6 computers;

7 (2) the term ‘‘small and medium-sized busi8 nesses’’ means businesses with less than 500 em9 ployees;

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

11 with respect to information technology, that the in12 formation technology accurately processes (including

13 calculating, comparing, and sequencing) date and

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

15 centuries and the years 1999 and 2000, and leap

16 year calculations, to the extent that other informa17 tion technology properly exchanges date and time

18 data with it;

19 (4) the term ‘‘Year 2000 computer problem’’

20 means, with respect to information technology, any

21 problem which prevents such technology from accu22 rately processing, calculating, comparing, or se23 quencing date or time data—

24 (A) from, into, or between—

25 (i) the 20th and 21st centuries; or
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1 (ii) the years 1999 and 2000;

2 (B) with regard to leap year calculations;

3 or

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

5 Year 2000 Conversion Council may identify and

6 designate; and

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

8 means the President’s Council on Year 2000 Conver9 sion established under section 2 of Executive Order

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

11 SEC. 3. CRITICAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES.

12 The President shall provide for the acceleration of the

13 development of business continuity plans by Federal agen14 cies necessary to ensure the uninterrupted delivery by

15 those agencies of critical mission-related services.

16 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

17 It is the sense of the Congress that the President

18 should—

19 (1) take a high profile national leadership posi20 tion to aggressively promote Year 2000 date change

21 awareness for information technology systems and

22 sensitive infrastructure applications; and

23 (2) authorize the Chairperson of the Year 2000

24 Conversion Council to take control of any critical

25 Federal agency system that is in jeopardy because of
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1 ineffective management of not meeting the January

2 1, 2000, deadline with respect to the Year 2000

3 computer problem.

4 SEC. 5. MONTHLY REPORTS.

5 The Director of the Office of Management and Budg6 et shall transmit to the Congress a monthly report assess7 ing critical Federal information systems that will not, or

8 may not, meet the Year 2000 computer problem deadline,

9 and the anticipated consequences of those failures. Such

10 report shall include a description of the status of business

11 continuity plans for systems identified as being in jeop12 ardy. The Director, in consultation with the Congress,

13 shall establish additional reporting criteria for areas such

14 as embedded systems and external data exchange.

15 SEC. 6. AGENCY REPORTS.

16 All Federal agency reports to the Office of Manage17 ment and Budget relating to the Year 2000 computer

18 problem shall be concurrently transmitted to the Congress.

19 SEC. 7. GUIDELINES.

20 The Chairperson of the Year 2000 Conversion Coun21 cil shall develop, in consultation with industry, guidelines

22 of best practices and standards for remediation and vali23 dation with respect to the Year 2000 computer problem

24 to provide better direction for government and private sec25 tor efforts.
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1 SEC. 8. NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF YEAR 2000 COMPUTER

2 PROBLEM.

3 Before the end of the 90-day period beginning on the

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the Chairperson of the

5 Year 2000 Conversion Council shall submit to the Con6 gress a national assessment of the Year 2000 computer

7 problem covering all critical national infrastructures and

8 key sectors of the economy, including banking and finance,

9 energy, telecommunications, transportation, and vital

10 human services which protect the public health and safety,

11 the water supply, housing and public buildings, and the

12 environment.

13 SEC. 9. NATIONAL STRATEGY TO ADDRESS YEAR 2000 COM14 PUTER PROBLEM.

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Consistent with the spirit of the

16 Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, the

17 Chairperson of the Year 2000 Conversion Council, in con18 sultation with the President’s Council on Infrastructure

19 Assurance, officers of the Federal Government and of

20 State and local governments, and representatives of the

21 private sector, shall prepare, and submit to the Congress

22 with the assessment required under section 8, a national

23 strategy to assure that the critical infrastructures and key

24 sectors of the economy described in section 8 will be pre25 pared for the Year 2000 date change.
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1 (b) STRATEGY TO BE INCLUDED.—The strategy pre2 pared pursuant to subsection (a) shall include, for each

3 sector, mission statement, goals, and objectives. It should

4 also indicate performance measures and milestones for

5 achieving the objectives.

6 SEC. 10. QUARTERLY PROGRESS REPORTS REQUIRED.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning after the submission of

8 the report on the national assessment and strategy under

9 sections 8 and 9, the Chairperson of the Year 2000 Con10 version Council shall submit quarterly reports to the Con11 gress on the progress that has been made since the sub12 mission of the prior report in solving the Year 2000 com13 puter problem in all critical infrastructures and key sec14 tors of the economy and in developing contingency plans.

15 (b) FINAL REPORT.—The final report submitted

16 under subsection (a) shall assess the ongoing Year 2000

17 and other date-related problems that will occur in the fu18 ture as temporary Year 2000 renovations lapse or other

19 fail dates occur in computer systems.

20 (c) SUNSET.—No reports shall be required under

21 subsection (a) after December 31, 2001.

22 SEC. 11. FEDERAL AGENCY ACTIONS.

23 To ensure that all computer operations and process24 ing can be provided without interruption by Federal agen-
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1 cies after December 31, 1999, the head of each Federal

2 agency shall—

3 (1) take actions necessary to ensure that all

4 systems and hardware administered by the agency

5 are Year 2000 compliant, to the extent necessary to

6 ensure that no significant disruption of the oper7 ations of the agency or of the agency’s data ex8 change partners occurs, including—

9 (A) establishing, before March 1, 1999,

10 schedules for testing and implementing new

11 data exchange formats for completing all data

12 exchange corrections, which may include na13 tional test days for end-to-end testing of critical

14 processes and associated data exchanges affect15 ing Federal, State, and local governments;

16 (B) notifying data exchange partners of

17 the implications to the agency and the exchange

18 partners if they do not make appropriate date

19 conversion corrections in time to meet the Fed20 eral schedule for implementing and testing Year

21 2000 compliant data exchange processes;

22 (C) giving priority to installing filters nec23 essary to prevent the corruption of mission-crit24 ical systems from data exchanges with non25 compliant systems; and
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1 (D) developing and implementing, as part

2 of the agency’s continuity and contingency plan3 ning efforts, specific provisions for data ex4 changes that may fail, including strategies to

5 mitigate operational disruptions if data ex6 change partners do not make timely date con7 version corrections;

8 (2) beginning not later than 30 days after the

9 date of the enactment of this Act, convene meetings

10 at least quarterly with representatives of the agen11 cy’s data exchange partners to assess implementa12 tion progress; and

13 (3) after each meeting convened pursuant to

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

15 summarizing—

16 (A) the results of that meeting; and

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

18 of key data exchange corrections, including the

19 extent of data exchange inventoried, an assess20 ment of data exchange formats agreed to with

21 data exchange partners, testing and implemen22 tation schedules, and testing and implementa23 tion completed.
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1 SEC. 12. ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSI2 NESSES.

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

4 businesses are prepared to meet the Year 2000 computer

5 problem challenge, the National Institute of Standards

6 and Technology, in conjunction with the Small Business

7 Administration, shall develop a Year 2000 compliance out8 reach program to assist small and medium-sized busi9 nesses. Such program shall include—

10 (1) the development of a Year 2000 self-assess11 ment checklist;

12 (2) an explanation of the Year 2000 computer

13 problem and an identification of best practices for

14 resolving the problem;

15 (3) a list of Federal Government Year 2000 in16 formation resources; and

17 (4) a list of Year 2000 compliant products pro18 vided by the General Services Administration.

19 SEC. 13. INTERNATIONAL ASSESSMENT.

20 Within 6 months after the date of the enactment of

21 this Act, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Tech22 nology, in conjunction with other relevant Federal agen23 cies, shall transmit to the Congress a report assessing the

24 international implications of the Year 2000 computer

25 problem. Such report shall include—
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1 (1) an assessment of Year 2000 compliance by

2 the United States major trading partners;

3 (2) a description of efforts by the United States

4 to share best practices with other countries;

5 (3) the economic implications on world trade

6 and the United States economy of the Year 2000

7 computer problem, including an identification of im8 pacted United States industrial sectors and Federal

9 agencies; and

10 (4) a summary of participation by Federal

11 agencies in international fora addressing the Year

12 2000 computer problem.

13 SEC. 14. CONSUMER AWARENESS.

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

15 and prepared to meet the Year 2000 computer problem

16 challenge, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Tech17 nology shall develop a Year 2000 consumer awareness pro18 gram to assist the public in becoming aware of the impli19 cations of the Year 2000 computer problem. Such pro20 gram shall include—

21 (1) the development of a Year 2000 self-assess22 ment checklist;

23 (2) a list of Federal Government Year 2000

24 computer problem information resources;
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1 (3) a list of Year 2000 compliant products pro2 vided by the General Services Administration;

3 (4) a series of public awareness announcements

4 or seminars on the impact of the Year 2000 com5 puter problem on consumer products and services;

6 and

7 (5) a series of public awareness announcements

8 or seminars on the potential effect that the Year

9 2000 computer problem could have on the provision

10 of services by the Federal Government to the public,

11 and the progress made in resolving the problem by

12 the Federal agencies providing those services.

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