New Jersey will be able to invest some pension money in alternative investments, after a court rejected a union bid to keep the money out of them.

A state court gave the Garden State’s Treasury Dept. permission to move forward with a plan to put about $9 billion, or 11.5%, of the state’s $78 billion in pension assets into hedge funds and other alternatives. The ruling comes as a new report shows the state pension systems is even farther from being able to meet its commitments than previously thought.

A new study shows that more police and firefighters than expected are retiring with disabilities, leaving a gap of some $550 million.

The Communications Workers of America and the New Jersey Education Association had sought to block the move, arguing that hedge funds are too risky and prone to political abuses.