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To: Gerald L. Kerr who wrote (13632)	3/28/1998 7:12:00 PM
From: Starfish*	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 31646

For us Florida residents; Computer bill would give immunity from 2000 suits By Thomas B. Pfankuch Times-Union staff writer TALLAHASSEE - When 2000 arrives, some Florida residents can expect to miss retirement checks, welfare checks or Medicaid payments, all thanks to computer glitches. But bills pending in both houses of the Legislature would block residents from suing the government if they suffer losses because of computer problems created by the new millennium. ''The likelihood is 100 percent that something is going to go wrong,'' said Russ Cyphers, a legislative analyst in the House. Gov. Lawton Chiles and lawmakers supporting the bill have been eager to talk about its stated goal of allowing the governor to redirect resources to any of 32 state agencies that run into computer trouble. But hardly anyone is talking about what is found deep within the measures, language about the legal immunity that would be offered to state and local governments as part of House Bill 3619 and Senate Bill 1162. Rep. Steven Effman, D-Plantation, is a co-sponsor of the House bill. Effman said the lawsuit limitation simply extends the government's right to ''sovereign immunity,'' a concept that says residents generally cannot sue their government. ''Based upon our long history of working on this problem, we want to limit the ability to sue,'' he said. So far, the state has spent $55 million and operated a task force for two years to deal with the coming crisis. Analysts have identified 32 million lines of computer code that need to be corrected, a process that could cost the state $75 million to $90 million. The troubles in the new millennium will result from computer software programs based on a procedure designed many years ago that only read years in two digits. When computers see 2000, they'll actually read 00, which the computer will read as 1900. Computer experts, who haven't discovered a quick way to correct the problem, have estimated the malfunctions could cost up to $30 billion to correct nationally and $600 billion worldwide. Plus, litigation resulting from computer mess-ups - such as people running into trouble after not getting their money - is estimated to top billions of dollars. Glen Mayne, chairman of the state's Year 2000 Task Force, said the immunity offered to state and local governments would be justified because the state has worked since 1990 and spent about $55 million so far to fix the problem. In Florida, governments can be sued for up to $100,000 per person and up to $200,000 per incident. Jacksonville General Counsel Rick Mullaney, who hasn't read the proposed legislation, said it appears the Legislature wants to make sure governments are financially insulated from the 2000 problem but also wants to reduce the number of lawsuits filed. ''On the face of it, it sounds like it makes sense,'' Mullaney said. ''That would prevent unnecessary lawsuits and the expenditure of time and money that comes with the defense of those lawsuits.'' House Bill 3619 will be considered Monday by the House Government Operations Committee. Effman said the bill has a good chance of becoming law. In Georgia, lawmakers passed a similar measure this month. BTW, I understand the pilot projects are a high margin item, and they would like to get as many pilot engagements as they can , more pilots,mean a larger customer base to pick the most valuable remediation project. In other words, spreading the employees to many pilots, means they pick from the best, and at the same time, the companies doing their own remediation are accessing the database which fills the till too!