Richard Polanco

Oral History

The single most important primary source for the Richard Polanco legislative career is the oral history conducted by the California State Archives on May 18 and 26, 2021. The interviews are part of the California State Government Oral History Program, conducted by David Farrell for the Secretary of State”s office. The transcripts and audio are available at the California State Archives in Sacramento.

What the oral history covers

  • Early life in Maravilla, East Los Angeles
  • Garfield High School and the community organizing years
  • UFW organizing in the early 1970s
  • Work for LA County Supervisor Ed Edelman
  • Service on the staff of Assemblyman Richard Alatorre
  • Service as special assistant to Governor Jerry Brown (first term)
  • The 1986 special election for Alatorre”s Assembly seat
  • The 1988 AIDS legislation, including AB 4536 (AIDS hospice licensing) and the public hearings in Los Angeles
  • AB 4585 (1988) and the Child Death Review Team framework
  • The Chicano Caucus becoming the California Latino Legislative Caucus, and the growth of the Caucus from 7 to 24 members
  • Recruitment of Cruz Bustamante and the 1996 Assembly speakership
  • AB 3193 (1990), the Polanco Redevelopment Act
  • The Cesar Chavez funeral delegation in 1993
  • The Chavez recognition effort across the decade
  • SB 984 (2000) and the Cesar Chavez Day statute
  • AB 3643 (1994) and the digital divide framework
  • SB 976 (2002) and the California Voting Rights Act
  • The Joaquin Avila drafting relationship
  • The Senate Majority Leader years (1998–2002)
  • The decision not to run for re-election in 2002
  • The citizenship education initiative (with the caveat that the 500,000-person figure is Polanco”s recollection, not independently verified)
  • The Polanco Fellows Program and the California Latino Caucus Institute
  • His own assessment of what the legislative career accomplished and what it did not

Selected Quotations

“Coming up in a tough part of East L.A., a young Richard Polanco learned early on to use his fists as a matter of survival. He eventually took that same fire in the belly into politics.”

— Dan Morain, Capitol Weekly, opening of the Polanco oral history (recorded October 24, 2022)

“My desire to celebrate this individual was not solely about him, but also about what the farmworker movement stood for and what he embodied.”

— Senator Richard Polanco, 2021 California State Archives oral history (on SB 984 and Cesar Chavez Day)

“The more important component of that bill, the Cesar Chavez holiday, is that it”s about community service. There”s a component there that lays out and instructs the state to create curriculums and districts to look at giving back to the community, doing community projects.”

— Senator Richard Polanco, 2021 California State Archives oral history (on the Day of Service and Learning)

How to use the oral history in this archive

The oral history is the single richest source of Polanco”s own words. It is used throughout this archive, with every quotation attributed and dated. The oral history is the foundation of the “From Richard” sections that may appear in the future on individual legislative pages, where Polanco speaks in his own voice about the legislation he authored.

Statements Polanco makes in the oral history are distinguished from independently verified legislative records. For example, when Polanco says the citizenship education initiative helped approximately 500,000 people, the archive reports that as “Polanco later recalled that the effort reached roughly 500,000 new citizens,” and notes that the figure is Polanco”s recollection, not independently verified. The archive does not promote recollection to fact without explicit corroboration.

Access the oral history

The full oral history transcript and audio are held at the California State Archives, 1020 O Street, Sacramento, California 95814. The Archives is open to researchers. The reference desk is (916) 653-2246. The Archives will provide copies of the oral history for scholarly use under standard archival access procedures.

The Dan Morain oral history for Capitol Weekly (recorded October 24, 2022) is available at capitolweekly.net and is a strong companion to the State Archives interview.