They said pretax pension expense will be $1.5 billion in 2004, compared with an estimated $2.6 billion this year.

The remaining £6,000 would be amortized as part of pension expense over the next 6 years.

The Legislature has been conscientious about funding normal pension expense.

The company said that both pension expense and the net loss were reduced by $400,000.

That was partly offset by a $10 million increase in pension expenses resulting from changes in accounting, the company said.

They said the request was necessary because of $2 billion in increased pension expenses.

Since 2002, most companies have gone back to reporting pension expense.

In its filing, the company said its estimated pension expenses for 1994 rose by about $100 million from 1993.

In 2003, General Motors' net pension expense was $2.6 billion.

That means the worst pension expenses might not surface until late in 2003.