What Public Citizens Can Do about the Y2K Crisis

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We need much more active leadership and a national sense of urgency to meaningfully address this challenge. Public citizens should join those who have called for the president to use his 'bully pulpit' to spark a major national preparedness effort; to form a Y2K global alliance to coordinate both national and multinational campaigns; to freeze all legislative, regulatory, and information technology changes that might divert resources from attention to the Y2K problem; and to submit an emergency Y2K budget for last-ditch efforts to repair or replace key computer systems and to implement contingency plans.

We need a Y2K center for developing and implementing a national and international Y2K strategy. We agree with the House Subcommittee on Government Management, Information & Technology and other thoughtful observers that the most logical mechanism for establishing a year 2000 strategy to coordinate efforts, share information, and alert citizens to the status of Y2K preparations is the President's Council on the Year 2000 Conversion. The President's Council should have its mandate expanded to include conducting a broad assessment of the nation's year 2000 readiness; identifying and assessing the risks to the nation's welfare, including the risks posed by international linkages and by the failure of critical infrastructure components; and developing and implementing necessary contingency plans for action at the national and international levels. The council's staff and budget should be dramatically increased. Public citizens should encourage such leadership initiatives at the national level.Of course, even with aggressive leadership from the president, we won't succeed with Y2K preparedness plans unless governors, mayors, and other state and local leaders also play an active role. In this regard, public citizens could support public interest groups that want to establish appropriate bench marks, monitor compliance, and publish regular report cards on the progress of specific states and cities in achieving Y2K readiness. A model for this initiative would be the report cards issued by the House subcommittee for the critical computer systems in the various federal agencies.

7. Public citizens can support the creation of a Center on Y2K and Civil Society, which would encourage public interest organizations, ordinary citizens, and their communities and institutions to work together on Y2K preparedness, reviving the ideals and practice of public citizenship. We need to further the concept of a 'civil society' in the context of the Y2K crisis. A Center on Y2K and Civil Society could encourage public interest organizations, ordinary citizens, and their communities and institutions to work together on Y2K preparedness, reviving the ideals and practice of public citizenship for the common good.

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