Rep. Liz Chavez, D-Lewiston, a retired teacher, told the House she experienced a pay freeze during her teaching career and it had a major impact on her retirement. "I don't mind sharing that my monthly retirement check, after teaching for 30 years, is $1,100," she said. On the other side of the debate, Rep. Lenore Hardy Barrett, R-Challis, discounted concerns that HB 262 could get the state into legal trouble over changing vested retirement rights.  "The threat of litigation ... appears to me to be an effort to intimidate," she said. "That's OK - anything we can do to get what we want. But we don't pass anything in this Legislature that is court-proof. That's why we have an attorney general. ... We need to get on with it."

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