California delegates at the Democratic National Convention

The Democratic National Convention formally kicks off tomorrow in Charlotte, North Carolina, but state delegations are already busy holding meetings.

California is fielding the largest delegation, but because it’s a reliably Blue State many wonder what role California will have in determining the winner of the general election.

KCRW’s Saul Gonzalez is in Charlotte and talked to Congressman Xavier Becerra about the Golden State’s clout this campaign year.

Speaker of the California Assembly John Pérez

Last week, the state legislature approved a sweeping reform of California’s public employee pension system.

Governor Jerry Brown is strongly backing those reforms.

Organized labor is staunchly opposed to the pension package, because it will require workers to contribute more toward their pensions and increases the retirement age before they can start collecting.

Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, said the process was rushed through at the last minute, and said much more needs to be done to fix the system with a 165 billion-dollar liability.

Saul Gonzalez caught up with Speaker of the California Assembly John Pérez to talk about the pension reforms.

Finally, this morning Saul went to a welcome breakfast for the California delegation and met some very enthusiastic people.

But he says the most enthusiastic might have been Lisa Starr, a first-time delegate from Los Angeles.