By Marc Fitch, includes "... This year alone, the state will pay $1.5 billion toward state employee pensions with an additional $860 million toward retiree healthcare. Much of that payment goes toward the unfunded pension liabilities the state has incurred over the years ... However, union leaders and Livingston, as their chief negotiator, agreed to allow the state of Connecticut to underfund the pensions in previous years. The state is not allowed to underfund the pensions without approval by the unions."