I think they have a good chance to beat this in court, at least for some of the charges. The California law:
“applies to “confidential communications” — i.e., conversations in which one of the parties has an objectively reasonable expectation that no one is listening in or overhearing the conversation.”
If I remember correctly, most of the conversations recorded were meetings in restaurants and public places. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a place like that where waiters and other diners could easily overhear the conversation.
If a place is publicly funded, all or part, then to any degree does that make it a public place also?