Small Business: SBA Starting Awareness Campaign (June, 1998)

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From: ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook - June 5, 1998

Small Business Administration Launches Y2K Campaign

The Small Business Administration (SBA) this week launched a Y2K awareness campaign in a Washington, D.C. press conference that featured Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT), Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CN) and Y2K Czar John Koskinen. In a prepared statement, SBA Administrator Aida Alvarez said, "The collective health of America's 23 million small businesses is one of our economy's vital signs. When small business is disrupted to a significant degree, the effects ripple throughout the economy."

SBA's Y2K campaign will include televised public service announcements and mass mailings to small business owners.

At the press event, Koskinen defended the Administrationms Y2K progress, suggesting that this weekms grades issued by Rep. Stephen Horn were not representative of the true state of affairs within the agencies. In particular, Koskinen indicated that the Federal Aviation Administration deserves more credit for its Y2K efforts.

Also this week, the Senate Small Business Committee held a hearing on the Y2K impact for small businesses. ITAA President Harris Miller testified before the Committee, laying out a series of actions necessary by government, international organizations and major corporations to help small businesses grapple with the date issue.

"Y2K is like a global hurricane. In this case, we can see the hurricane coming, and so there should be an emergency response plan in place," Miller said, calling for government to offer small businesses low interest loans, tax breaks, and even a Y2K small business corps to offer technical assistance.

Also at the hearing, Sen. Bennett, a member of the Senate Small Business Committee, referred to a recent study by Wells Fargo Bank that finds 80 percent of small businesses do not have Y2K contingency plans and, of those, 50 percent had no plans to create them. According to Bennett, "That is a call to arms."


ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook is published every Friday to help all organizations deal more effectively with the Year 2000 software conversion. If you would like to receive this free publication, please sign up on the web at https://www.itaa.org/transact/2koutlooksub.htm



-- Bill (billdale@lakesnet.net), June 10, 1998


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