Barrett: ‘Nothing is court-proof’

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.”