The state’s two largest public pension systems continue to struggle after major investment losses during the great recession and stock market crash in 2008 when CalPERS and CalSTRS lost approximately $100 billion and $68 billion respectively. The two systems are still underfunded with CalPERS at 68 percent and CalSTRS at 65 percent of projected assets needed to pay future pensions. Last month, the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) Board voted to lower the assumed rate of return from 7.5 percent to 7 percent over a two-year period. This follows a similar action by the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) board, which voted in December to lower the pension plan's expected rate of return to 7 percent by 2020 after the fund failed to meet its 7.5 percent target the past two years. Under the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA), rates paid by districts are set to gradually increase through 2020.