http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3795f4fe0cab.htm

Senator Robert F. Bennett

Opening Statement

July 15, 1999

Hearing on State & Local Government

Preparedness for the Year 2000

There are only 169 days left before the Year 2000, and we still have much work to do. In the few legislative weeks that remain to conduct hearings on the Y2K issue, the Committee will concentrate on areas that continue to concern us. The focus of todays hearing is one of those areas. As with nearly every sector the Committee has examined, the Y2K preparedness level of state and local governments varies widely. Some are ready right now, but manymost are not. There are 50 states, more than 3,000 counties, and more than 18,000 cities and towns in the United States. Many of these do not plan to be ready until later this year, putting them dangerously close to the Year 2000 deadline, and leaving little room for testing, contingency planning and unexpected problems.

We have seen a troubling trend lately, where various sectors report that they plan to be ready later this year, but dont report where they are today. We recently met with a group from an industry sector that proudly proclaimed they "would be" more than 90 percent ready by September 30. But when we asked about their current level of readiness, the group admitted that the industry sector was less than 20 percent ready. Now, an optimist would say that most companies in this sector are more than 90 percent ready and simply have to finish the last 10 percent of work to assert they are ready. But a skeptic would say that there is no way you can go from less than 20 percent to more than 90 percent in a little over two months. We will be watching this and other sectors very closely to determine who was rightthe optimists or the skeptics.

Today we will discuss with our witnesses some recently completed surveys on the Year 2000 preparedness of cities, counties, and states, and we will listen to a few stories from individuals actually in the trenches at the state and local government level. But Im going into this hearing with grave concerns. Let me tell you why. In its recent survey, The National League of Cities, which represents about 18,000 cities and towns throughout the country, says that 92 percent of its members will be ready. While that percentage sounds good, it really means that 8 percentover 1,400 cities and towns--will not be ready. We all hope that the city or town where we live is not among those 1,400. Equally troubling are statistics from the National Association of Counties. Its recent survey estimates that only 27 percent of the more than 3,000 counties it represents have completed Y2K testing. Apparently, more than 2,000 counties have a lot of work to do in the next 169 days.

We are also concerned about the states. The U.S. map displayed shows percentages of Y2K compliant systems for each state (green = 90% or greater, yellow = 70% to 89%, red = less than 70%, and black = unknown). Nine states are behind in their Y2K efforts (states in red). We also have maps showing states current level of readiness for two key state-run, federal programsMedicaid and Child Care. As you can see less than half of the states are currently ready to deliver these services next year. While all contend they will be ready, much work remains in the next five months.

I hope these statistics arent as bad as they appear. I look forward to the testimony of todays witnesses, and I hope they can allay some of my concerns. I also hope they are aggressively pursuing contingency planning in the event that they do not finish their work in time. To that end, I would like to call attention to an excellent document (hold up document)A Y2K Guide for Cities and Countiesdeveloped by the "Center for Year 2000 Community Action Plans." This guide can serve as a useful check to ensure that cities and counties have covered all their bases.

-- Senator (Bob@Bennet.gov), July 21, 1999