Today the city of San Jose and its employee unions will face off in court over pensions. The battle is being watched closely as similar debates over government pensions are playing out throughout the state.

San Jose's pension reform, which has not yet been adopted because of the lawsuit, does not reduce benefits already earned by employees, but would require them to either pay higher contributions to maintain current benefits or receive lower benefits.

It also requires new city employees to split pension contributions evenly with the city. San Jose, which has two pension funds, currently pays $8 toward pension benefits for every $3 contributed by its employees

For more on what's happening and what's at stake, we're joined now by John Woolfolk of the San Jose Mercury News.