Department of Accounting and General Services

HONOLULU —  Twenty-five years ago, the state of Hawaiʻi was one of many professional entities across the world that breathed a sigh of relief when the year 2000 started – and the world did not collapse. Many computer-reliant industries spent months preparing for what was known as Y2K, an abbreviation for Year 2000.

Y2K referred to a software problem caused by how calendar data was stored. Many programs referred to only the last two digits of the years; for example, 1999 was written as 99. The fear was that the year 2000 would be read as the year 1900, potentially causing worldwide infrastructures to crash. Many people were concerned computers would malfunction at midnight on New Year’s Eve 1999, wreaking global havoc.

The person who managed the software change for the state was Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS) Deputy Comptroller Mary Pat Waterhouse. Then-Governor Ben Cayetano appointed her to oversee the project, which took her about 18 months.

DAGS Director and Comptroller Keith Regan reflected on the time. “This was seen as a huge potential problem. Governments around the world set up task forces and international partnerships to respond to the issue. It was a major topic of discussion that even resulted in some people stocking up at survivalist-related businesses in preparation of a worst-case scenario. I’m proud to know DAGS was the department that shepherded the state to a safe rollover into the new millennium. We experienced very few problems thanks to Mary Pat’s diligence in preparing us.”

Waterhouse, who was Deputy Comptroller from 1995 to 2000, created monthly meetings with each of the two dozen state departments in the lead up to the big day. Her target date for readiness was a month before the new year; November 30, 1999.

“It was so stressful,” she remembered. “Some people were predicting banking failures, transportation shutdowns and power outages. I was the point person and I wanted to make sure we didn’t have mass chaos on my watch.”

Waterhouse and the IT team gathered in DAGS’ headquarters in the Kalanimoku Building on the last night of the year 1999, and nervously watched as the clock struck midnight. “I had all the departments call me right after midnight to report the status of their computers,” she related, “and I was so grateful there were no problems.” In the end, she said there was one minor problem that surfaced a day later, and that was easily fixed.

It’s not all bad news. Waterhouse revealed she actually met her husband through this Y2K preparedness task! He was working at State Civil Defense (now Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency or HI-EMA) on the Y2K fix, and was one of the delegates attending the monthly department meetings.