$7,508,233
Itemized contributions reported by the Yes committee from November 2025 through September 28, 2026, including $2.47 million received between July 1 and September 28 alone.
Follow the Money
Who is paying to pass the tax?
The Connect Bay Area Transit committee, which is running the Yes on Measure RTM campaign, reported $7,508,233 in itemized contributions from 162 donors on filings through September 28, 2026. Sixty-two donors giving $25,000 or more supplied 96% of that money. About $3 million came from contractors, unions and other organizations that stand to benefit from the spending the tax would fund, and the committee has spent more than $4.1 million on the paid petition drive that put the measure on the ballot.
96%
Share of the money that came from 62 donors giving $25,000 or more. The 56 contributions under $1,000 added up to $14,545, less than 0.2% of the total.
$2.97 million
Contributed by transit contractors, transit and public-sector unions and other donors that would directly benefit from transit-tax spending, about 40% of all itemized money.
More than $7.5 million, mostly from those who benefit
The committee's itemized contributions now total more than $7.5 million. The donors fall into a familiar pattern: the contractors who build transit, the firms that design it, the unions that staff it and large employers and individual backers.
| Contributor | What they are | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Service Employees International Union Local 1021 Issues PAC | Public-sector union Transit beneficiary | $593,700 |
| Chris Larsen | Wealthy individual | $500,000 |
| Salesforce, Inc. | Big corporation | $500,000 |
| TransitAmerica Services, Inc. | Contractor (rail operations) Transit beneficiary | $350,000 |
| Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 | Transit union (BART) Transit beneficiary | $250,000 |
| Anthropic PBC | Big corporation | $250,000 |
| Genentech USA, Inc. | Big corporation | $250,000 |
| HNTB Corporation | Contractor (engineering) Transit beneficiary | $250,000 |
| Meta Platforms, Inc. | Big corporation | $250,000 |
| Nicholas Josefowitz | Wealthy individual | $250,000 |
| Service Employees International Union Local 521 | Public-sector union | $250,000 |
| Laura Yakovenko (Boulder, Colorado) | Wealthy individual | $200,000 |
| Operating Engineers Local 3 Issues Advocacy PAC | Construction union | $200,000 |
| Autodesk, Inc. | Big corporation | $175,000 |
| Amalgamated Transit Union (international, Silver Spring, MD) | Transit union | $150,000 |
| Google Client Services LLC | Big corporation | $150,000 |
| Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc. | Contractor (engineering) Transit beneficiary | $150,000 |
| Kaiser Permanente | Health system | $150,000 |
| Modern Infrastructure Alliance Action Fund, sponsored by Prologis | Corporate PAC | $150,000 |
| PG&E Corporation | Big corporation | $125,000 |
| AFSCME Council 57 Issues PAC | Public-sector union Transit beneficiary | $100,000 |
| Amalgamated Transit Union California Conference Board | Transit union Transit beneficiary | $100,000 |
| California Alliance for Jobs, Rebuild California Committee | Construction industry PAC Transit beneficiary | $100,000 |
| HDR, Inc. | Contractor (engineering) Transit beneficiary | $100,000 |
| Hitachi Rail STS USA, Inc. | Contractor (rail systems) Transit beneficiary | $100,000 |
| Jay K. Paul, Jay Paul Company | Real estate developer Transit beneficiary | $100,000 |
| Saikat Chakrabarti | Wealthy individual | $100,000 |
| Silicon Valley Community Foundation | Foundation | $100,000 |
| Visa, Inc. | Big corporation | $100,000 |
| WSP USA Inc. | Contractor (engineering) Transit beneficiary | $100,000 |
| Golden State Group | Big corporation | $75,000 |
| AFSCME (international, Washington, DC) | Public-sector union | $50,000 |
| AFSCME Local 3993 BART Supervisory & Professional Union | Transit union (BART) Transit beneficiary | $50,000 |
| Amazon.com Services LLC | Big corporation | $50,000 |
| American Council of Engineering Companies California Issues Fund | Engineering industry PAC Transit beneficiary | $50,000 |
| BXP, Inc. | Real estate (office landlord) Transit beneficiary | $50,000 |
| Grove Action Fund | Foundation-affiliated fund | $50,000 |
| San Francisco Baseball Associates, LLC (SF Giants) | Big corporation | $50,000 |
| San Francisco Foundation | Foundation | $50,000 |
| San Francisco Forward (Chamber of Commerce) | Business group | $40,000 |
| AFSCME Local 3916 | Public-sector union | $35,000 |
| AECOM Technology Corporation | Contractor (engineering) Transit beneficiary | $30,000 |
| T.Y. Lin International | Contractor (engineering) Transit beneficiary | $30,000 |
| American Public Transportation Association | Transit industry lobby | $25,000 |
| Bruce De Benedictis | Individual | $25,000 |
| Building Owners and Managers Association of San Francisco PAC | Real estate PAC | $25,000 |
| Consor North America, Inc. | Contractor (engineering) Transit beneficiary | $25,000 |
| DMZ Builders | Contractor (construction) Transit beneficiary | $25,000 |
| GFT Infrastructure, Inc. | Contractor (engineering) Transit beneficiary | $25,000 |
| Gillig, LLC | Contractor (bus manufacturer) Transit beneficiary | $25,000 |
| Hanson Bridgett LLP | Law firm Transit beneficiary | $25,000 |
| Hayden AI Technologies, Inc. | Contractor (transit technology) Transit beneficiary | $25,000 |
| Kimley-Horn & Associates, Inc. | Contractor (engineering) Transit beneficiary | $25,000 |
| Lyft, Inc. | Big corporation | $25,000 |
| MV Transportation, Inc. | Contractor (transit operations) Transit beneficiary | $25,000 |
| Parsons Corporation | Contractor (engineering) Transit beneficiary | $25,000 |
| PGH Wong Engineering, Inc. | Contractor (engineering) Transit beneficiary | $25,000 |
| RSE Corporation | Contractor (construction) Transit beneficiary | $25,000 |
| Stripe, Inc. | Big corporation | $25,000 |
| Sutter Health | Health system | $25,000 |
| The Allen Group, LLC | Contractor (construction) Transit beneficiary | $25,000 |
| Transit Systems Engineering, Inc. | Contractor (engineering) Transit beneficiary | $25,000 |
| All other contributors (100 donors giving under $25,000 each) | Mixed | $279,533 |
| GRAND TOTAL (162 contributors) | $7,508,233 | |
The pattern: about $3 million of the $7,508,233 raised came from contractors, consultants and unions with a direct financial stake in transit spending, and most of the rest came from a few dozen large corporations and wealthy individuals. Contributions under $1,000 from ordinary residents, who would pay an extra half percentage point in sales tax for 14 years, total $14,545.
Where the money went: a $4.1 million petition drive
Measure RTM reached the ballot as a citizens' initiative, which needs only a simple majority to pass, rather than as an agency-placed tax requiring two-thirds approval. Qualifying it took a paid signature drive across five counties. Of the $5.13 million in payments of $1,000 or more that the committee reported through September 19, 2026, $4.10 million, or 80%, was coded as petition circulating.
| Payee | Service | Amount paid |
|---|---|---|
| GOCO Partners LLC (Las Vegas, NV) | Petition circulating | $3,508,539 |
| WMBE Payrolling, Inc. dba TCWGlobal (San Diego) | Petition circulator payroll | $337,651 |
| KMM Strategies (Seattle, WA) | Campaign consulting, petition and literature | $334,486 |
| Olson Remcho LLP (Sacramento) | Legal services | $152,955 |
| Seamless Bay Area (San Francisco) | Petition circulating and consulting | $124,000 |
| Team CivX, LLC (Orinda) | Campaign consulting and design | $116,161 |
| Bedford Grove | Fundraising services | $110,000 |
| EMC Research, Inc. (Oakland) | Polling | $64,300 |
| West Advisors (San Francisco) | Campaign consulting | $50,000 |
| S.E. Owens & Company (Oakland) | Professional services | $47,535 |
| All other payees | Staff salaries, consultants, printing and other | $283,315 |
| TOTAL PAYMENTS OF $1,000 OR MORE | $5,128,942 | |
Why it matters: $4.1 million of the $7.5 million the Yes campaign raised, or 55%, went to paid signature gathering, and $3.5 million of that went to a single Las Vegas firm. The corporations, contractors and unions listed above paid for the initiative route, which lets the tax pass with a simple majority instead of the two-thirds vote required for a tax placed on the ballot by a government body.
The coalition behind it
The committee is led by a mix of business and labor organizations, including:
- Bay Area Council (regional business group)
- SPUR (urban policy advocacy)
- SAMCEDA (San Mateo County economic development)
- SEIU Local 1021 and ATU Local 1555 (transit and public-sector unions)
See the full, itemized list yourself
Every contribution of $100 or more is itemized on the committee's Form 460 filings. View the complete record of names, amounts and dates on Santa Clara County's NetFile portal.
View the official filings on NetFile
Filer: Connect Bay Area Transit (Santa Clara County ID 214761697). As the campaign files new statements, the itemized totals here will grow.
They have millions. We have you.
PG&E, billionaires, large companies and out-of-state transit contractors are spending millions to force a massive 14-year regressive tax on working families. We are an entirely grassroots movement fighting to stop them. We cannot win without resources to get the truth out to voters before election day. If you believe in fixes before funding, please chip in right now to help us defeat Measure RTM.
Sources: Connect Bay Area Transit Form 460 campaign statements (Schedules A, C, E and G) for periods from October 1, 2025 through September 19, 2026, including the pre-election statement filed September 24, 2026 and Form 497 late contribution reports filed through September 28, 2026, all on file with Santa Clara County via NetFile. Contributions are combined by donor across filings; nonmonetary contributions are valued as reported. Payment dates for Schedule E items were matched to NetFile transaction records. Donor descriptions reflect each entity's primary business or role. Consult the NetFile filings for the current itemized totals.