Mike Thompson: “this country will face an unprecedented problem on January 1, 2000, when many computer systems, in the form of software…”

“this country will face an unprecedented problem on January 1, 2000, when many computer systems, in the form of software, hardware and embedded chips, will interpret the year as 1900 rather than 2000, potentially resulting in extensive failures of critical operations. The fix to this problem is not a technological challenge, but a management challenge due to its massive nature and the limited time we have to fix it. With less then 465 days until the new millennium, this problem will affect every level of government, every size of business, and literally every person in this great nation. Although the Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act does not represent the silver bullet to remedy this problem, I rise today to voice my support for this legislation. This bill will encourage both public and private sector entities to disclose year 2000 related information, in the form of product readiness, proposed solutions and testing processes, thereby increasing the ability of governments and businesses to update their own systems and avoid potentially catastrophic failures.”