LRB-1800/1
ALL:all:jf
1999 - 2000 LEGISLATURE
January 19, 1999 - Introduced by Representatives Jensen, Albers, Hutchison and
F. Lasee. Referred to Committee on Information Policy.
AB51,2,2 1An Act to repeal 13.0992; to amend 19.37 (2), 19.37 (3), 134.99 (1), 218.015 (7),
2560.05 (3) and 775.01; and to create 13.0992, 16.528 (3) (f), 66.285 (4) (f),
3134.92, 893.83 and 904.17 of the statutes; relating to: gathering of information
4by state and local governmental officers and agencies concerning year 2000 and
5leap year-related processing and public access to such information; recovery of
6damages in certain actions against state and local governmental units and
7officers, employes and agents thereof caused by the incorrect processing;
8transmittal or receipt of certain date data; admissibility of statements
9regarding the year 2000 processing capabilities of a product or service;
10preparation of year 2000 impact statements; educational outreach concerning
11year 2000 and leap year-related computer failures; testing of local emergency

1contingency plans for responding to year 2000 computer problems; granting
2rule-making authority; and providing a penalty.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Information gathering
This bill permits any state or local governmental unit which or officer who has
regulatory power over any person to require that person to provide to the unit or
officer information relating to year 2000 processing. Year 2000 processing
information includes any communication made by the person to any other person or
persons: 1) concerning an assessment, projection or estimate relating to, or plans,
objectives or timetables for implementing or verifying year 2000 processing
capabilities of an entity, product, service or set of products or services; 2) concerning
test plans, dates or results, or operational problems or solutions related to year 2000
processing by products or services that incorporate or otherwise utilize products; 3)
concerning the correction or avoidance of a year 2000 processing failure in computer
hardware, a computer system, a component of a computer system, a computer
program or software or services utilizing any computer hardware, system,
component, program or software or services; or 4) reviewing, commenting on, or
otherwise directly or indirectly relating to year 2000 processing capabilities. The
information may only pertain to a matter relating to public health or safety that is
regulated by that authority or a matter relating to public health or safety that has
an effect upon a matter that is regulated by that authority. The bill defines "year
2000 processing" as processing, transmitting or receiving date data from, into and
between the 20th and 21st centuries and during the years 1999 and 2000, and from
leap year calculations. Currently, no such authority exists.
Under the bill, if any business fails to provide the information required,
knowingly gives a false answer to a request for information or evades the answer to
any request for information, each director, partner or proprietor of that business is
subject to a forfeiture (civil penalty) of $100 for each offense. Each day of violation
constitutes a separate offense.
The bill requires each state or local governmental unit which or officer who
receives information under the bill to withhold from access all information provided
to the unit or officer under the public records access law, except that the unit or officer
must provide the information to the department of administration (DOA) upon
written request of the department and may, upon written consent of a person who
provides information to the unit or officer, provide the information to another
specified person or to any person.
This bill provides that no year 2000 processing information provided by a
person at the request of a governmental unit that has regulatory power over the
person is admissible in any civil action or proceeding. Any other year 2000
processing information may be offered in evidence only if the information is in a
statement made by a person who knew that the statement was false, misleading or
deceptive or that was made with reckless disregard as to the truth or falsity of the

statement, if the information is in a republished year 2000 statement that the person
who republished the statement knew was false, misleading or deceptive, if the
information is in a statement made by a person who was compensated for providing
a year 2000 statement as part of a contractual service or made by a person when
soliciting a consumer, or if the information is offered in any action brought by the
state or a local governmental unit acting in regulatory, supervisory or enforcement
capacity.
State and local governmental liability
Currently, under the common law doctrine of sovereign immunity, the state is
immune from lawsuits, except in certain instances in which laws permit the state to
be sued or the enforcement of a federal or constitutional right is involved. State
authorities and local governmental units do not enjoy such broad immunity,
although narrower grants of immunity are provided to such authorities and units
under various specific laws. Also, in certain limited circumstances, a state
governmental officer, employe or agent may be sued for certain acts or omissions
even though a lawsuit arising from the same acts or omissions may not be brought
against the governmental unit that the officer, employe or agent serves. A state or
local governmental officer, employe or agent who is sued for a negligent action or
omission may be protected from liability currently if the officer, employe or agent
makes a good faith attempt to resolve the problem that results in the act or omission.
No punitive damages (damages not resulting from direct or indirect loss but
awarded, instead, as punishment for wrongful conduct) may be awarded in any
lawsuit against a state or local governmental officer, employe or agent based upon
tort (a noncontractual claim based upon alleged wrongful conduct). Damages in tort
lawsuits are generally limited to $250,000 in the case of a state officer, employe or
agent, or $50,000 in the case of a local governmental unit or officer, employe or agent
thereof. Currently, with certain exceptions, the state and local governments must
pay interest on late payments to vendors.
This bill provides that no person may recover any damages against any state
or local governmental unit, including a state authority, or any officer, employe or
agent thereof, for any act or omission caused by the failure of an electronic computing
device that is under the control of such a unit, officer, employe or agent to process,
transmit or receive date data from, into and between the 20th and 21st centuries and
during the years 1999 and 2000 and from leap year calculations if the unit had a
remediation plan in effect at the time of the act or omission that was designed to
prevent the failure and the unit or the officer, employe or agent made a reasonable
effort to find, identify and replace or correct any electronic computing device that
may have contributed to the failure. The bill also voids any contrary provision of a
contract entered into on or after the day on which the bill becomes law. In addition,
the bill provides that the state and local governments are not required to pay interest
to vendors on late payments arising from a "year 2000" failure described above.
Year 2000 impact statements
This bill provides that whenever a bill is introduced in either house of the
legislature that would have an impact on the ability of a state governmental unit, a
local governmental unit or any other person to avoid a year 2000 problem, as defined

in the bill, the speaker of the assembly or president of the senate may require that
a year 2000 impact statement be prepared by DOA. The statement describes the
impact upon the year 2000 problem that would result from enactment of the bill.
Educational outreach
This bill permits DOA to contract with one or more private contractors to
provide educational outreach with respect to the potential failure of computers to
process, transmit or receive date data from, into and between the 20th and 21st
centuries and during the years 1999 and 2000 and from leap year calculations, and
the methods of correction and contingency planning for such failures. Under the bill,
DOA has discretion to determine the persons to whom the outreach is to be provided.
Currently, DOA has no authority or responsibility to conduct outreach for this
purpose. Under current law, state agencies may contract for services that they are
authorized or required to provide if the services can be provided more economically
or efficiently by contract, subject to certain statutory requirements, rules of DOA and
collective bargaining laws and agreements. State agencies must justify the need for
contractual service procurements. This bill provides that certain of these statutes
and rules do not apply to the contractual services that DOA is permitted to procure
under the bill.
Emergency management contingency plans
Under current law, the adjutant general, as the head of the department of
military affairs (DMA), is required to develop and promulgate a statewide plan of
emergency management for the security of persons and property and to provide
training to and standards for local emergency management services agencies.
This bill requires DMA to review all of the local emergency management
services agency contingency plans for responding to the failure of a computer to
handle and correctly interpret year 2000 data. If DMA determines that those plans
are inadequate or in need of testing, the bill authorizes DMA to prepare a plan for
the funding of a local governmental unit to test those contingency plans and to
submit that funding plan to the joint committee on finance. The bill allows the joint
committee on finance to supplement DMA appropriations to implement the testing
of the contingency plans.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be
printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
AB51, s. 1 1Section 1. 13.0992 of the statutes is created to read:
AB51,4,3 213.0992 Review of bills impacting on year 2000 problem. (1)
3Definitions. In this section:
AB51,5,1
1(a) "Department" means the department of administration.
AB51,5,62 (b) "Electronic computing device" means any computer hardware or software,
3computer chip, embedded chip, process control equipment or other information
4system used to capture, store, manipulate or process information, or that controls,
5monitors or assists in the operation of physical apparatus that relies on automation
6or digital technology to function.
AB51,5,107 (c) "Local governmental unit" means a political subdivision of this state, a
8special purpose district in this state, an instrumentality or corporation of such a
9political subdivision or special purpose district or a combination or subunit of any of
10the foregoing or an instrumentality of the state and any of the foregoing.
AB51,5,1211 (d) "Processing" includes calculating, comparing, sequencing, displaying or
12storing.
AB51,5,1513 (e) "State governmental unit" means this state, and every subunit or
14instrumentality of this state, including any institution or authority, regardless of
15whether moneys are appropriated to the unit.
AB51,5,1716 (f) "Year 2000 problem" means a failure in year 2000 processing of an electronic
17computing device.
AB51,5,2018 (g) "Year 2000 processing" means the processing, transmitting or receiving of
19date data from, into, and between the 20th and 21st centuries and during the years
201999 and 2000, and from leap year calculations.
AB51,6,8 21(2) Report on bills impacting on year 2000 problem. (a) Whenever a bill is
22introduced in either house of the legislature that would have an impact on the ability
23of a state governmental unit, a local governmental unit or any other person to avoid
24a year 2000 problem, the department, upon the request of the speaker of the
25assembly or the president of the senate, shall prepare a report on the bill within 5

1working days of the request. The department shall request information from any
2individual, organization or state or local governmental unit that the department
3considers likely to be affected by the bill, if enacted. Individuals, organizations and
4state and local governmental units shall comply with requests by the department for
5information that is reasonably necessary for the department to prepare the report.
6To the greatest extent possible, reports under this section shall be based on the
7information obtained by the department from individuals, organizations and state
8and local governmental units under this paragraph.
AB51,6,109 (b) The report prepared under this section shall be printed as an appendix to
10that applicable bill and shall be distributed in the same manner as amendments.
AB51,6,12 11(3) Findings of the department to be contained in the report. The report of
12the department shall contain the following information:
AB51,6,1413 (a) A statement of the year 2000 problem affected by the bill, including all of
14the following:
AB51,6,1515 1. Whether current law creates a hardship and, if so, the degree of the hardship.
AB51,6,1716 2. The costs associated with complying with current law and any anticipated
17savings likely to result from the bill, if enacted.
AB51,6,1918 3. Whether any other efforts have been made to resolve the year 2000 problem
19affected by the bill.
AB51,6,2120 4. The degree of control by those affected by the bill over the year 2000 problem
21affected by the bill.
AB51,6,2322 (b) A description of the proposed effect of the bill, if enacted, on the year 2000
23problem.
AB51,7,224 (c) Any other special considerations concerning the effect of the bill, such as the
25frequency of use of the proposed change and the support and involvement of

1businesses, industries, state governmental units and local governmental units
2affected by the proposed change.
AB51,7,4 3(4) Rule-making authority. The department may promulgate any rules
4necessary for the administration of this section.
AB51, s. 2 5Section 2. 13.0992 of the statutes, as created by 1999 Wisconsin Act .... (this
6act), is repealed.
AB51, s. 3 7Section 3. 16.528 (3) (f) of the statutes is created to read:
AB51,7,88 16.528 (3) (f) An order or contract to which s. 893.83 applies.
AB51, s. 4 9Section 4. 19.37 (2) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB51,7,1910 19.37 (2) Costs, fees and damages. (a) Except as provided in this paragraph
11and s. 893.83, the court shall award reasonable attorney fees, damages of not less
12than $100, and other actual costs to the requester if the requester prevails in whole
13or in substantial part in any action filed under sub. (1) relating to access to a record
14or part of a record under s. 19.35 (1) (a). If the requester is a committed or
15incarcerated person, the requester is not entitled to any minimum amount of
16damages, but the court may award damages. Costs and fees shall be paid by the
17authority affected or the unit of government of which it is a part, or by the unit of
18government by which the legal custodian under s. 19.33 is employed and may not
19become a personal liability of any public official.
AB51,7,2420 (b) In Except as provided in s. 893.83, in any action filed under sub. (1) relating
21to access to a record or part of a record under s. 19.35 (1) (am), if the court finds that
22the authority acted in a wilful or intentional manner, the court shall award the
23individual actual damages sustained by the individual as a consequence of the
24failure.
AB51, s. 5 25Section 5. 19.37 (3) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB51,8,4
119.37 (3) Punitive damages. If Except as provided in s. 893.83, if a court finds
2that an authority or legal custodian under s. 19.33 has arbitrarily and capriciously
3denied or delayed response to a request or charged excessive fees, the court may
4award punitive damages to the requester.
AB51, s. 6 5Section 6. 66.285 (4) (f) of the statutes is created to read:
AB51,8,66 66.285 (4) (f) An order or contract to which s. 893.83 applies.
AB51, s. 7 7Section 7. 134.92 of the statutes is created to read:
AB51,8,8 8134.92 Year 2000 processing information. (1) In this section:
AB51,8,109 (a) "Agent" means an authorized person, other than a director, officer or
10employe, who acts on behalf of or at the direction of another person.
AB51,8,1111 (b) "Authority" has the meaning given in s. 19.32 (1).
AB51,8,1312 (c) "Processing" includes calculating, comparing, sequencing, displaying or
13storing.
AB51,8,1514 (d) "Regulatory power" means the power to authorize or require a specific class
15of persons to perform certain acts.
AB51,8,1816 (e) "Year 2000 processing" means the processing, transmitting or receiving of
17date data from, into, and between the 20th and 21st centuries and during the years
181999 and 2000, and from leap year calculations.
AB51,8,2119 (f) "Year 2000 statement" means any communication or other conveyance of
20information by a person to another person or to the public, in any form or medium,
21including a computer program:
AB51,8,2322 1. Concerning an assessment, projection or estimate relating to year 2000
23processing capabilities of an entity, product, service or set of products and services.
AB51,9,3
12. Concerning plans, objectives, or timetables for implementing or verifying the
2year 2000 processing capabilities of an entity, product, service or set of products and
3services.
AB51,9,64 3. Concerning test plans, test dates, test results or operational problems or
5solutions related to year 2000 processing by products or services that incorporate or
6utilize products.
AB51,9,107 4. Concerning the correction or avoidance of a year 2000 processing failure in
8computer hardware, a computer system, a component of a computer system, a
9computer program or software or services utilizing any computer hardware, system,
10component, program or software or services.
AB51,9,1211 5. Reviewing, commenting on, or otherwise directly or indirectly relating to
12year 2000 processing capabilities.
AB51,9,18 13(2) Each authority may require any person over whom the authority exercises
14regulatory power to provide to the authority information relating to year 2000
15processing, including a year 2000 statement, with respect to any matter relating to
16public health or safety that is regulated by that authority or any matter relating to
17public health or safety that has an effect upon a matter that is regulated by that
18authority.
Loading...
Loading...