(AP) - Gov. Chris Christie's administration is again stating its position on pension payments.

The state government is scheduled to make a court filing Thursday to lay out its position on why it should not be forced to make a contribution of about $3 billion to public workers' pension funds in 2016.

Christie is calling for a $1.3 billion contribution, which would be the biggest ever for the state government, though it's less than half the size of what was called for in a law he signed four years ago.

It's a familiar debate.

Unions have sued Christie over his pension funding in separate suits over the fiscal 2014, 2015 and 2016 budgets.

The state Supreme Court has scheduled arguments for May on the litigation over the current year's contributions.