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Y2K: PRESIDENTIAL STATEMENT: Small Business Year 2000 Readiness Act
Date: Sat, 03 Apr 1999
From: "NewHeavenNewEarth" <nhne@nhne.com>
THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________
For Immediate Release
April 2, 1999
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT
Today I am pleased to sign into law S. 314, the "Small Business Year
2000 Readiness Act."
In 9 months we will enter the new millennium. We have made tremendous progress
in our efforts to address the Year 2000 (Y2K) computer problem. In spite
of this progress, however, too many businesses, especially small-and medium-sized
firms, will not be ready unless they act immediately.
This week, the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Department of Commerce,
the Department of Agriculture, and other Federal departments and agencies
of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion are sponsoring "Small
Business Y2K Action Week." At hundreds of Y2K seminars and training
events across the country, these agencies are educating small businesses
on the steps necessary for achieving Y2K compliance.
The message we are delivering to small businesses at these events is that
every small business must take responsibility for making sure it is ready
for the Year 2000 by taking action now. Every business should assess its
exposure to the Y2K problem, ask its vendors and suppliers to be ready as
well, and develop contingency plans in case its own critical systems or
the systems of its vendors fail as we move into the Year 2000.
The legislation I am signing today will help ensure that the Nation's small
businesses have access to the capital they need to be "Y2K-OK"
in the Year 2000. The Act will authorize the SBA to provide loan guarantees
for two Y2K purposes. First, it will enable small businesses to purchase
the systems, software, equipment, and services necessary to become Y2K compliant.
Second, it will assist small businesses that suffer economic injury as a
result of the Y2K problem during the Year 2000. Authority for this special
program will terminate on December 31, 2000.
I want to especially recognize the job that Administrator Aida Alvarez and
the Small Business Administration have done in ensuring that the Nation's
small business community is ready to meet the Y2K challenge. Through its
leadership of Small Business Y2K Action Week, and its other extensive outreach
efforts, the SBA has done an excellent job of raising the awareness of small
businesses concerning the Y2K challenge. I would also like to thank the
Congress for acting swiftly this session to ensure that we have this additional
tool for assisting small businesses in their efforts to address this problem.
The Nation's small businesses are the backbone of our country's vibrant
and growing economy. In signing S. 314 today, I hope to ensure that our
small business community will move into the Year 2000 with minimal disruption
to our Nation's economy.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
THE WHITE HOUSE, April 2, 1999.
------------
David Sunfellow Founder & Publisher, NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE) Director,
Sedona Y2K Task Force
NHNE: eMail: nhne@nhne.com
Web: http://www.nhne.com/
Phone: (520) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492