Marc Joffe is President of the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association and a California Policy Center visiting fellow.
After a long career in the financial industry, including a senior director role at Moody’s Analytics, he transitioned to policy research at CPC and Reason Foundation. Joffe’s research focuses on government finance and state policy issues.
Marc earned an MBA from New York University and an MPA from San Francisco State University.
After the state unwisely expanding Medi-Cal in recent years, the program has descended into a fiscal crisis. Now Gov. Gavin Newsom proposes to roll back some of the expansions, but it may be too little too late given pending actions at the federal level. Covering more than one-third of Californians, the Medi-Cal program’s costs are projected to...
By Marc Joffe
When Marc Molinaro takes up his position as the new federal transit administrator, he will have the opportunity to save taxpayers a quick $5.1 billion. All he has to do is decline to provide federal funding for what a high-profile transit advocate recently dubbed “the worst new transit project in the United States”: the extension...
Although public opinion, most private organizations, and the federal government have turned against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), it remains deeply embedded in the culture of California state and local government. As a result, taxpayers and ratepayers are funding millions of dollars of government DEI-related expenditures annually, and the spending is likely to persist without...
By Marc Joffe, Mark Moses
California’s state and local governments are struggling to find the cash needed to pay government employees the retirement benefits they promised. As the League of California Cities observed, pension costs for many of their members have been rising to “unsustainable levels”. Now, remarkably, the state Assembly is ready to make that problem far worse –...
By Marc Joffe
California is the prime battleground between transportation innovation and legacy mass transit. While Silicon Valley is rolling out driverless taxis and testing flying cars, urbanists and transit unions are seeking more taxpayer funding to buttress money-losing train and bus systems around the state. If history is any guide, the new transportation technologies will ultimately replace...
By Marc Joffe
Conservatives often wonder why California’s 13.3 percent top marginal income tax rate has not driven out more of its affluent residents. Indeed, a family earning $10 million annually stands to save over $1 million each year by moving to Texas, Florida, or another state that does not levy an income tax. But many high earners...
By Marc Joffe
Pushing back against the winds of change in Washington, DC, California Governor Newsom reiterated his commitment to the state’s high-speed rail (HSR) boondoggle while tacitly lending support to a new effort to incinerate taxpayer funds: a 54-mile high-speed connector line that would join HSR with Brightline West service planned for the I-15 corridor. Newsom participated...
By Marc Joffe
In an unlikely victory against government excess in the ultra-liberal Bay Area, a regional housing authority has decided to remove a $20 billion housing bond from the November ballot. If successful, Regional Measure 4 (RM4) would have been the largest local government bond initiative in American history. Led by the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority...
By Marc Joffe
Governor Newsom’s FY 2023-24 budget update included a larger projected deficit and more balancing measures than his January budget. But, despite pressure from Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and transit agencies, the May Revise excluded emergency funding for local bus and rail systems around the state. The agencies’ proposed transit bailout was at best premature,...
By Marc Joffe
Boasting of his state’s robust economic growth, California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently declared that “California’s values and entrepreneurial spirit have powered this ascent to becoming the 4th biggest economy in the world.” Not so fast. California elected officials frequently cite the Golden State’s position in global economic rankings, comparing the size of the state’s economy...
By Marc Joffe
As international tensions threaten US and global energy supplies, the California State Senate is considering legislation that would compel public pension funds to divest from fossil fuel companies, potentially starving these firms of capital. The Senate bill is the latest in a series of initiatives designed to replace traditional portfolio management with a set of...
By Marc Joffe
This article was originally featured in The California Bullhorn. California’s population is declining according to estimates from the state’s Department of Finance and the US Census Bureau. During the 2010s, population growth had slowed to a trickle, and now the pandemic has tipped our growth rate into negative territory. While some may welcome less crowded conditions, a stagnant...
By Marc Joffe
With warmer, drier weather on the way, California public school districts worried about safely reopening classrooms could offer in-person classes outdoors, using tents or other temporary structures to ward off some of the elements. If restaurants and gyms have been able to serve customers outdoors under tents, why can’t public schools serve at least some...
By Marc Joffe
Editor’s Note: The following was originally published on Reason. In terms of providing quality information that researchers, hospitals, public health officials, and taxpayers would find the most useful, the best portals are offered by San Diego, Santa Clara, San Mateo and Marin counties. County governments across California are providing an array of public coronavirus data...
By Marc Joffe
a new form will got here
a new form will got here