At issue are privatizing the state retirement system and using a surplus to boost teachers' pay. Lobbyists for big investment firms are scurrying around the capital looking for angles to give their clients the edge. Fights are breaking out.
Old friends are now foes.
Welcome to the debate over the privatization of the state's multibillion-dollar retirement system. From the private sector's viewpoint, it may be the most lucrative thing lawmakers will do all session. Currently, most government employees pay into the state retirement system. The state invests that money. When employees retire, they receive a guaranteed amount of retirement benefits if they have served long enough to be vested.