Clinton creates Y2K Council

Washington, D.C. On March 31, by Executive Order, President Clinton has created the "President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion" to address the computer problem facing the world as the millennium approaches. Many of today's computers use two digits to record the date (1998 is "98"), and when the year 2000 turns over, the computers will read the "00" as the year 1900. The result will be erroneous data and/or complete system failures.

The federal government is attempting to reprogram their computers before the turn of the century. The President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion will be working with the agencies to "ensure that the Federal Government is reaching out, particularly to private sector organizations" to increase awareness to the year 2000 problem and to offer support. The Council is enlisting Federal agencies to serve as economic " sector coordinators", encouraging them to reach out to private sector organizations both domestically and internationally that fall
within their policy areas, according to a White House press release.

The Small Business Administration Agency (SBA) will be acting as the "sector coordinator" for the nation's small businesses. They will offer a checklist for business owners to use in determining whether they have a problem; a search engine to enable businesses to find outside firms that can help them solve year 2000 problems; and a database of year 2000-compliant equipment and software. (from White House press release, 3/31/98)