A legislative eye on Y2K.

• Author: Bourquard, Jo Anne

Legislators are scrambling to make sure state government is ready for Y2K. But if states do the right things, the public will think it's "much ado about nothing."

Experts continue the race to resolve Year 2000 (Y2K) date problems before Jan. 1. Millions and million of lines of code have to be examined and modified because many computer systems can't distinguish 2000 from 1900.

Y2K may well be the most challenging problem to face government in this century. "It has enormous potential to disrupt our homes, our businesses and our communities," says Senator Bob Jauch, chair of the NCSL Year 2000 Subcommittee and co-chair of Wisconsin's Joint Information Policy Committee.

"It will take millions of dollars to fix and countless hours to coordinate contingency plans in the event that power is lost, health care systems don't work or sewage treatment plants don't function," Jauch says. Legislators play a critical role in overseeing Y2K preparations and educating the public about the issue.

WHAT CAN GO WRONG?

Unless the date predicament is solved, computer systems and devices containing embedded chips may malfunction causing errors, miscalculations and shutdowns. For state government, this could affect everything from payroll, pensions, benefits and tax collection to transmissions of data between local, state and federal agencies and businesses. And the problem extends beyond computers to elevators, medical equipment, fire engines, buses, water and wastewater treatment facilities, phone systems, utilities, prisons, bank vaults, and nuclear power plants that contain computer chips that may malfunction. More than 50 million embedded system devices worldwide may exhibit Year 2000 problems, according to the Gartner Group, an information technology consulting firm.

WHAT ARE THE COSTS?

The costs of fixing these glitches range from a low of $4.5 million in South Dakota to $322 million in Georgia, according to a survey by the National Association of State Information Resource Executives. To fix state computer systems nationwide could cost in the neighborhood of $3.5 billion. The National Association of Counties estimates that counties will spend $1.7 billion, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors puts cities' costs at more than $300 million. Federal government estimates exceed $6 billion, and experts put worldwide costs at more than $600 billion. Legal costs stemming from year 2000 problems are projected to be in the trillions.

"State legislators face the...