Alameda County Transportation Commission Data Collection Success!

Transparent California’s mission is to get data covering every public employee in our state – millions of them from thousands of agencies – every year.  We feel the People need to see where their money is going and deserve true transparency and accountability in government spending.   
 
But collecting public agency compensation data from thousands of agencies every year is a difficult job.   
 
Most public agencies are very good about responding to our requests.  We’ve been doing this over a decade, collecting over 40 million records.  They may not like it, but most agencies know their legal obligation and give us the compensation and pension data we request without too much difficulty.   
 
But some public agencies are still reluctant to comply.  Despite having the California Public Records Act (CPRA) behind us we often have to ask repeatedly.  In some cases it takes four or five follow ups, including reminders citing the law, before they send us their pay and benefit records.   
 
Unfortunately we sometimes find ourselves having to go further.  And then the lawyers get involved.   
 
We’re very reluctant to do this.  The law is clear, the agencies are obligated to provide us with this data.  We’ve never lost a lawsuit for compensation records.  When the recalcitrant agency eventually loses they are obligated to pay our legal fees.  Those legal fees, combined with their own costs, can easily add up to thousands of dollars.   
 
Our most recent legal filing against the city of Compton resulted $7500 in our fees alone.  And in the end Compton ended up giving us a file of data they could have provided for free.  Given Compton is often on the brink of bankruptcy, we can’t help but feel it would have been better for them to have just sent us the data and used the money to patch a pothole or pay a librarian. 
 
We’re in this to collect data, not to support lawyers. But some agencies continue to force us down that route.  Including, most recently, the Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC).   
 
ACTC is no stranger to our requests.  They’ve provided us with data every year since 2012.  They know we’re going to ask, and we’re sure our request for 2023 data, made June 25^th, 2024, came as no surprise.  They replied in a reasonable time, on July 16th, sending us a PDF printout of a spreadsheet showing the data requested. 
 
One might think “we’re done”, but we’re not.   
 
The CPRA is clear – agencies are required to provide original data if available.  Not printouts or other copies derived from the original.  The actual data.  And we are insistent on this because we need that data in its original data format to post to our site – for you.   
 
Having agencies send us printouts where they’ve converted original data files (usually spreadsheets) to PDF is not that unusual.   Everyone who has ever used Excel has seen the “save as PDF” option, even if they don’t use it much.  Our request specifically addresses this, telling them we are asking for the original data file, not a PDF copy of that file.  But still a small percentage of the time they miss that and we get a PDF.  Usually it’s just an oversight on the part of whoever draws the short straw and has to respond to us.  We reply back to them asking again for the original data, they send it, we’re done.  Request closed, it’s that simple. 
 
In this case, ACTC’s PDF was clearly derived from a spreadsheet.  Perhaps a “save as PDF”.  We thanked them for their work and repeated our request for the original data.  And here’s where it gets difficult. 
 
The CPRA is, again, clear.  If an agency has a data file they are required to provide it.  ACTC had provided us with proof they had that data file – they sent us a photograph of it in the form of a PDF.  But despite numerous follow-ups they continued to refuse to provide the original data.  Ultimately they went so far as to get their lawyers involved. 
 
We did everything possible to avoid having this go further.  We asked nicely, we asked firmly.  We warned them we would not accept noncompliance.  We sent them a list of prior lawsuits and warned them they would ultimately be responsible for legal costs if they forced us to file legal paperwork.   
 
No luck.  They (their lawyers now) maintained the CPRA did not require them to produce the original data.  Strange but true. 
 
Fortunately we have one of the foremost Public Records attorneys in our state on our side, Felix Tinkov, Esq.  Mr. Tinkov jumped in and did what he does best, sending ACTC a letter clearly outlining their legal responsibilities and giving them one last chance to simply give us the data so we could avoid pressing the issue into the courts. 
 
That did it.  ACTC finally sent us the data we requested on October 2^nd, 2024.  Over three months after the original email to them. We were then able to add their 45 employee records to our database.  You can now find them here.   
 
Another success story from the team at Transparent California! 

This is what we do, and we do all this for you.  There is nothing more ripe for misappropriation than using tax funds for personal financial gain, and we feel that demands a certain level of transparency.  So you can see what your local public employees and officials are paying themselves using your tax dollars. Our staff of 3 part-time data collectors does this largely as a public service for minimal pay, just because we think it’s important. 
 
Do you? 
 
If you think those efforts are worthwhile, help support  them.  We are not funded by any deep-pocketed billionaires with hidden agendas.  We are funded by people like you – with an average contribution of $48. 
 
If you’d like you can simply make a donation, but if you have a specific agency (or agencies) you are interested in you can also sponsor data collection for that agency.  Not only do you help support our effort (and perhaps buy some coffee and pizza for the guys), but sponsored agencies take priority in our efforts.   
 
With almost 5000 public agencies out there we can’t possibly handle all of them simultaneously, sponsored agencies go first in our requests every year.    And when their data arrives and is posted, sponsors get an email.  If you’d like the world to know you’re helping the effort by sponsoring their data we can show that on their home page, or you can be anonymous – your call. 

And now we have something new!  If the popup ads annoy you, you can get a premium subscription for a mere $1/month – have ad-free browsing.  What a deal!   
 
The people who work here are annoyed by the ads too, but we also know they generate a chunk of the revenue that allows us to keep the site going and continue collecting data.  So we put up with it.  But now you don’t have to! 
 
And if you don’t want to donate, sponsor, or subscribe?  We’re good with that, use the site to your heart’s content and just make sure you spread the word.  If your neighbor wants to know what the local city manager or school superintendent makes, point them our way. 
 
Thanks!