WASHINGTON -- Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, pushed through committee Thursday a bill he says would stop an expected $1 trillion avalanche of lawsuits caused by the year 2000 computer bug.
But the Senate Judiciary Committee that he heads made clear the bill still needs major work before it will pass. Some members said they worry it may cause more problems than it solves.The committee passed Hatch's bill on a 10-7 vote -- with all Democrats opposing it except Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
It now goes to the full Senate. The Senate Commerce Committee has also passed to the floor a similar bill by its chairman, John McCain, R-Ariz. And the House is considering similar legislation.
"We all know this is not going to be the final bill," Hatch told his committee. "Bipartisan discussions on this bill will continue during the upcoming recess to further narrow remaining differences."
He said he has already made 25 changes to his original version and continues to negotiate changes with Democrats and the administration who worry it might make it too hard for some people who are hurt by Y2K problems to sue.
Hatch's bill would require a 90-day waiting period before Y2K-related lawsuits could be filed. It would give offending companies time to fix problems and to offer remedies to avoid litigation.
It also puts limits on class-action suits. And it would cap punitive damages at either $250,000 or three times the value of actual damages -- whichever is higher. For small businesses, it would be whichever is lower.
While business groups say it is necessary to avoid an expected crunch in the courthouse, it isn't popular with lawyers and some consumer groups.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., in fact, called Hatch's bill "a wish list for special interests that are or might become involved in Y2K litigation," and might actually make it less likely they would solve Y2K problems up front.
Of course, the Y2K bug comes because older computer programming used only two digits for a four-digit year. So such systems will interpret the "00" in 2000 incorrectly as 1900, possibly causing crashes or malfunctions.