STATE AWAITS APPEARANCE OF YEAR 2000 BUG; OFFICIALS TO LOOK ABROAD FOR CLUES.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

``Y2K minus one'' looms as the key date for government officials as they prepare to greet and - they hope - squash the Millennium Bug.

For most of us, that translates into Dec. 31 - when most people plan to hold their Year 2000 parties. But for computer types, it will mean being hunkered down in their offices counting off New Year's Day as it arrives in different parts of the world.

At 4 a.m. PST, it will be midnight in Auckland, New Zealand.

At 6 a.m. PST, it will be midnight in Melbourne.

At 7 a.m. PST, it will be midnight in Seoul and Tokyo.

And so on, until 9 p.m. PST when it is midnight in New York and the new year makes its way across the country over the next three hours.

In what they are calling their ``follow the sun'' strategy, state officials will be looking to see how the rest of the world copes with Y2K potential problems and if disruptions really occur.

``Once the millennium begins in major cities - 17 hours away - that's show time for us,'' said Oscar Gonzales, spokesman for Gov. Gray Davis' Y2K team.

``We believe it will turn out to be a nonevent, but you can't leave anything to chance. We are bracing ourselves and have gone through practice drills to be prepared.''

Federal and state officials are relying on their employees based throughout the world to provide the initial key information on whether there are any problems.

All U.S. embassies and consulates are to report on whether any problems develop in their countries and if that information could be useful to prepare this country for any disruptions.

The same is being required of state officials. Workers assigned to the nine California trade offices around the world will be reporting to the state Office of Emergency Services on any disruptions occurring in those countries.

The state has offices in Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Jerusalem, Tokyo, Seoul, London, Mexico City, Johannesburg and Taipei.

``This is a key job for us,'' said Lon Hatamiya, secretary of the state Trade and Commerce Agency. ``We have been very instrumental in this whole process because we are the agency that oversees all our international offices. California is a $1.1 trillion economy and about $250 million of that comes from foreign trade.''

Hatamiya said all those assigned to the foreign offices have been provided with satellite cell phones to be able to communicate with the state if phones go out.

In addition, they have been provided with a checklist of items to monitor, so they can look for any problems dealing with everything from traffic to communications.

Frank Martinez, who heads the city's Y2K compliance effort, said Los Angeles is hooked-in to both the state and federal systems to trade information.

``We are working with the federal Information Coordination Center and will be looking at their information and providing information to them as well,'' Martinez said.

The issue is so significant that Mayor Richard Riordan will be in constant communication with the city's Emergency Operation Center, spokeswoman Noelia Rodriguez said.

``The mayor believes there will absolutely be no problem, but believes the city has to be prepared,'' Rodriguez said.

Riordan is scheduled to be traveling around the city on Dec. 31, going to various millennium celebrations that have been planned, culminating with the lighting of the Hollywood sign at midnight.