REALITY SLOWLY SEEPS IN: Bombshell Pension Vote Is About Sink California Hundreds Of Millions Deeper Into The Red. “According to the Sacramento Bee, CalSTRS (the big teachers retirement fund) is set to vote on Friday whether or not it should reduce its annual investment returns estimate from 8% to 7.5%, a move that will add hundreds of million to state debts (since the pension is guaranteed, and public taxpayers are on the hook). That would be a huge decision, if they do it. 8% has been the level set since 1995 (talk about a whole nother era), and artificially high return estimates are how the pension systems aren’t (on paper) even more insolvent than they already seem.”