Commission Members & Background

HISTORIC STATE CAPITOL COMMISSION

CURRENT MEMBERS AND BACKGROUNDS

Article 9 (commencing with Section 9149) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 2 of the Government Code states: “There is in state government, the Historic State Capitol Commission, which shall consist of seven members: two members appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, two members appointed by the President pro Tempore of the Senate, and the State Historic Preservation Officer, the State Librarian, and the State Archivist, who shall serve ex officio.”

Greg Lucas was appointed State Librarian of California by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. on March 25, 2014. He was Senior Editor for Capitol Weekly from 2011 to 2014. Lucas has written and edited California’s Capitol, a website he created in 2007 focused on California history and politics. He was Sacramento bureau chief and a Capitol reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1988 to 2007. He covered the Capitol for the Los Angeles Daily Journal from 1985 to 1988. Lucas has a Master’s degree in Professional Writing from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from Stanford University.

Julianne Polanco served as a Commissioner and Chair of the California State Historical Resources Commission from 2005 to 2015. She was the Director of Cultural Resources for Lend Lease Americas since 2006. Prior to that, Ms. Polanco was Senior Preservation Specialist at the Presidio Trust from 1999 to 2006, and Assistant to the Vice President for Programs at the World Monuments Fund from 1998 to 1999. Her professional work has also included serving as Advisor to the Chairman of California Integrated Waste Management Board and Special Assistant to the Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency. Ms. Polanco is a Trustee Emeritus of the California Preservation Foundation, past Board of Directors of San Francisco Architectural Heritage, and a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and US/ICOMOS.

Ray Girvigian, FAIA, has been a pioneer in the Historic Preservation Movement for the past half century by initiating, creating, drafting and actively coordinating the passage of many firsts in preservation law, ordinances, and regulations in California and Washington. He has contributed to the California Environmental Quality Act with respect to the historic elements of its regulations. Mr. Girvigian has also assisted in other legislative firsts such as the Mills Act, the State Historic Building Code, as well as the laws enabling the Capitol Restoration Project (for which he served as restoration architect) and the subsequent Historic State Capitol Commission.