TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Former Sen. Bill Bradley and a Nobel laureate in economics are part of the group coming to talk to lawmakers about making major reforms to the state pension system.

The Topeka Capital-Journal (http://bit.ly/YicSkT) reports that Bradley and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Robert Merton will speak Monday morning to the House Pensions and Benefits Committee.

Both are affiliated with the Austin, Texas-based investment firm Dimensional Fund Advisors. Its co-founder, David Booth, is known for buying James Naismith's original rules of basketball, then donating them to the University of Kansas.

Conservatives favor a 401(k)-style plan.

But Democratic leaders say it's not appropriate to let DFA officials help design a plan for the 281,000-member Kansas Public Employee Retirement System. They say it gives Booth's company an unfair advantage in potential contract negotiations.