CSHB 82(L&C): "An Act relating to certain claims arising out of or in connection with the year 2000 date change; amending Rule 23, Alaska Rules of Civil Procedure; and providing for an effective date."
00CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 82(L&C) 01 "An Act relating to certain claims arising out of or in connection with the year 02 2000 date change; amending Rule 23, Alaska Rules of Civil Procedure; and 03 providing for an effective date." 04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 * Section 1. AS 09.65 is amended by adding a new section to read: 06 Sec. 09.65.260. Claims against persons engaged in business arising out of 07 or in connection with the year 2000 date change. (a) A business or a member of 08 the board of directors of a business is not liable for damages arising from the year 09 2000 date change and caused directly or indirectly by a failure of an electronic 10 computing device used in the business if the business shows by a preponderance of the 11 evidence that 12 (1) the business made the following efforts to avoid the damages 13 claimed in the civil action: 14 (A) inventory the electronic computing devices used by the
01 business that may experience year 2000 date change failures; 02 (B) identify critical electronic computing devices necessary to 03 conduct the operations of the business; 04 (C) identify the potential for year 2000 date change failures 05 associated with electronic computing devices used by the business; 06 (D) prepare a plan to reprogram, fix, repair, replace, or 07 otherwise remedy the electronic computing devices necessary to avert failure 08 resulting from the year 2000 date change; 09 (E) comply with industry regulations or requirements related to 10 the year 2000 date change, including testing information systems for 11 compliance with the year 2000 date change; and 12 (F) develop contingency plans in the event of an electronic 13 computing device failure; or 14 (2) the business, by following generally accepted standards of care and 15 effort in the business activity in which the business was engaged, exercised due 16 diligence and reasonable care to prevent or remedy damages arising from the year 17 2000 date change and caused directly or indirectly by a failure of an electronic 18 computing device. 19 (b) The defense in (a) of this section may not be asserted 20 (1) by a business that develops or manufactures software, firmware, 21 microcode, hardware, or embedded microchips that create, read, write, calculate, 22 compare, sequence, or otherwise process data that consists of dates, times, or both 23 dates and time if the business represented that the software, firmware, microcode, 24 hardware, or microchips were year 2000 date change compliant; this paragraph does 25 not apply to a business that only sells, rents, or leases software, firmware, microcode, 26 or hardware that is developed or manufactured by another person; or 27 (2) in an action based on a contract. 28 (c) A civil action against a business, or member of the board of directors of 29 a business, for damages arising from the year 2000 date change and caused directly 30 or indirectly by a failure of an electronic computing device used in the business may 31 not be brought as a class action unless each member of the class has a claim for
01 economic loss that exceeds $50,000. 02 (d) In a civil action against a business, or member of the board of directors of 03 a business, for damages arising from the year 2000 date change and caused directly 04 or indirectly by a failure of an electronic computing device used in the business, 05 (1) damages may be awarded for economic losses only unless the 06 business against whom the action is brought committed fraud; 07 (2) the civil action may not proceed to trial until the person bringing 08 the action 09 (A) provides written notice to the business that describes the 10 failure of the electronic computing device arising from the year 2000 date 11 change; and 12 (B) gives the business the opportunity to fix the problem, 13 including reasonable access to electronic computing devices or software 14 affected by the failure described under (A) of this paragraph; 15 (3) the civil action must be submitted to mediation conducted under the 16 Alaska Rules of Civil Procedure, unless all the parties agree to waive mediation. 17 (e) In this section, 18 (1) "business" means a person or a for profit or a nonprofit entity 19 engaged in a trade, service, profession, or activity with the goal of receiving a financial 20 benefit in exchange for the provision of services, goods, or other property; 21 (2) "electronic computing device" includes any computer hardware or 22 software, a computer chip, an embedded chip, process control equipment, or other 23 information system that is used to capture, store, manipulate, or process data; 24 (3) "year 2000 date change" includes processing date or time data from, 25 into, and between the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, and leap-year 26 calculations; in this paragraph, "processing" includes calculating, comparing, 27 sequencing, displaying, and storing. 28 * Sec. 2. AS 09.65.260 is repealed January 1, 2006. 29 * Sec. 3. AS 09.65.260(c), enacted by sec. 1 of this Act, has the effect of amending 30 Rule 23, Alaska Rules of Civil Procedure, by requiring, in a class action relating to the year 31 2000 date change, that each member of the class have a claim for economic loss that exceeds
01 $50,000. 02 * Sec. 4. APPLICABILITY. This Act applies to a cause of action arising from any failure 03 described in AS 09.65.260, enacted by sec. 1 of this Act, that accrues on or after the effective 04 date of this Act but before January 1, 2006. 05 * Sec. 5. This Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).