State getting ready for computer problems

Tuesday, Dec. 15, 1998 | 12:16 p.m.

Despite being 91 percent complete in retrofitting to guard against Year 2000 breakdowns, Director Marlene Lockard told the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee that problems are inevitable.

"I think there very definitely will be problems," Lockard said Monday. "An unknown something that didn't get repaired."

She said her staff is trying to make Y2K problems a "nonevent." The state will have all of 1999 to test computer systems, she added.

State government uses computers to keep track of all driving and motor vehicle ownership records, to pay welfare and unemployment checks and for other purposes.

Lockard said she and her staff are developing contingency plans for state agencies to use if their computers suddenly fail.

"We are working very aggressively on this issue," she said.

archive