Hawaii is among several states whose retired public employees are threatened by underfunded pensions, according to a new study.

The report, “Promises Made, Promises Broken — The Betrayal of Pensioners and Taxpayers,” by Virginia-based State Budget Solutions, found that Hawaii’s Employee Retirement System has nearly $27 billion in unfunded liability.

The state with the highest unfunded liability at $640 billion, is California, the study found.

The report is an evaluation based on fair-market valuations that discounts liabilities at a risk-free rate, versus optimistic investment returns used by most plans, authors say.

A summary of the report and a sortable database of state-by-state information are posted online.

http://is.gd/PensionStudy2013