A bill meant to help businesses exchange information on fixing the year 2000 computer bug passed the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, but only after a heated debate over whether the proposal risked fueling the spread of misinformation also, LEGI- SLATE News Service reported.
An amendment offered by Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., to reduce that risk ultimately failed on a 12-4 vote. But Judiciary Chairman Hatch agreed to work with Thompson and his allies to revise the legislation before it goes before the full Senate.
The panel passed the bill after adopting by unanimous consent a substitute amendment reflecting an agreement among White House officials, industry lobbyists, and key House and Senate members from both parties.
Companies are afraid they may open themselves up to lawsuits if they share information on their efforts to correct their year 2000 problems but that information later turns out to have been wrong.
Supporters of the bill, including Hatch, Judiciary ranking member Patrick Leahy, and Sens. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, and Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., stressed that the substitute version would not let manufacturers off the hook for selling products that malfunction due to year 2000 problems.
But Thompson, asserting jurisdiction over the issue as chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, cautioned that the plan would lift a burden of responsibility from firms selling purported cures for the year 2000 bug.
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