For Image-Battered Congress, Y2K Problem Could Offer a Balm

With the fateful click of the year 2000 scarcely 10 months away, members of Congress are seizing on an issue that some hope could help transform their damaged public image from Do-Little Impeachers to Millennial Rescue Squad.

In the early stages of the congressional session, several bills have been introduced in what analysts expect will be an avalanche of Y2K legislation, even though lawmakers are no more sure than computer experts whether Jan. 1 will bring technological Armageddon or just another turn of the calendar page.

Congress is taking no chances. One of the first bills introduced seeks to swat the dreaded millennium bug by fiddling with the calendar itself.

As fate has it, Jan. 1, 2000, falls on a Saturday, and, according to federal law, the holiday must be observed on Friday--24 hours before the witching hour. The measure, sponsored by Rep. John Linder (R-Ga.), would move the official holiday to Monday, Jan. 3, reasoning that, if society as we know it does indeed come to a crashing halt, the American people could use some extra time to sift through the rubble.

“It’s like Joshua asking the sun and the moon to stand still so Israel could defeat the Amorites,” said James Pinkerton, a GOP pundit at Georgetown University.

California Weighs In

Few states are as Y2K-worried as California, home to more than 20% of the nation’s high-tech jobs and one-third of its biotech industry, thus the parade of lawmakers jumping to propose corrective bills that their constituents are likely to appreciate.

This week alone, four California members pitched two separate measures to try to prevent $1 trillion in lawsuits expected to arise from year 2000 glitches, with each of the lawmakers predicting some sort of peril if Congress does not act soon.

“Remember, we’re going into a situation that’s absolutely unprecedented,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said while unveiling the “Year 2000 Fairness and Responsibility Act,” aimed at preventing frivolous lawsuits. “We have restructured our economy’s focus into a high-technology, biotechnology economy . . . and in order to protect people’s employment, we have to take some precautionary measures.”

“This is incredibly important to California,” said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), the bill’s co-sponsor. “There are threats of lawsuits hanging all over this right now. That’s what is driving this.”

On the House side, Reps. David Dreier (R-San Dimas), Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) and Calvin M. Dooley (D-Visalia) stood together earlier this week to announce the virtually identical “Year 2000 Readiness and Responsibility Act of 1999.”

In general, the bills require a 90-day “cooling-off period” before Y2K-related lawsuits could be filed, limit punitive damages to $250,000 and cap fees for lawyers working on such suits at $1,000 an hour.

And, in an effort to encourage businesses to spend their money fixing potential problems rather than fending off lawsuits, the bills reward those who take active steps with protections in the event litigation is eventually filed. If a hotel, for example, attempted to prevent its computer-operated elevators from crashing, the effort would be taken into account even if there was a mishap.

In turn, businesses that fail to act would be subject to greater exposure in court. Personal injury awards would not be limited.

An Issue Yielding Little Argument

Supported by dozens of industry groups and opposed by trial lawyers, the legislation stems from widespread fear in the business community that any trouble-shooting now would be seen as an acknowledgment of problems that could be used in court later.

“To even say I’m afraid I might get sued is like throwing blood in the water; the fins begin to go round and round,” one Washington business leader said.

The yearning among lawmakers to move beyond the divisiveness and distraction of President Clinton’s impeachment trial helps explain the expected blizzard of Y2K-related legislation.

Next Tuesday, the Senate is scheduled to vote on a bill to provide small business loans for technological upgrades, then meet in closed session for a briefing on potential Y2K problems involving national security and classified information.

“Congress wants to be known as somebody who gets under the hood of the car and fixes things,” said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont.

To paraphrase former New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia’s observation about street cleaning, there is no Republican or Democratic way to fix a computer. And there seldom comes along an issue so easy for both parties to rally around, as evidenced by the bipartisan love-fest displayed at various conferences this week touting Y2K bills--a notable shift from the recent acrimony over impeachment.

“Rational politicians are looking for something they can accomplish, that President Clinton won’t veto, that doesn’t cause a government shutdown so they can say they enacted something with bipartisan support,” Pinkerton said. “And Y2K reform is like the metric system--it seems like a good idea, everybody’s for it, nobody really understands it and you assume somebody else is going to handle it. The average voter stuck on the 405 Freeway would say, ‘Yes, that’s what they should be doing.’ ” Beyond actual legislation, Congress has been working steadily to make sure the federal government--among the nation’s largest computer users--attends to its housekeeping.

Rep. Stephen Horn (R-Long Beach), who chairs the House subcommittee investigating the year 2000 problem, has issued seven report cards grading the federal government on its progress toward Y2K compatibility. Last week he gave it a C-plus.

Covering the Bases

And although Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has cautioned consumers against making extra-large pre-New Year’s bank withdrawals because they fear automated teller failures, the Fed plans to stockpile an extra $200 billion in cash just in case, about one-third more than usual.

In the end, many of the gestures and legislation by Congress probably will be symbolic--a lot of the bills simply will not pass. And it is possible that, if all this worry turns out to be for naught, America will wake up Jan. 2 with a dozen or so laws it does not need.

“In which case,” Pitney said, “smart members of Congress will stand up and declare success.”