Lunardi was elected to the City Council in Roseville, California in 1950 and served on the city government as mayor or council member until 1958. In 1958, he was elected to the California Assembly representing the Sixth District, and served there until December 20, 1963, when he resigned to assume a seat in the California State Senate. He served in the Senate until October 1966 when he resigned to become the the legislative representative of the California Wine Institute, continuing in that position until his retirement in December 1988. While in the Assembly, he was chairman of the Military and Veterans Affairs Committee and vice-chair of the Water Committee. He sponsored legislation that became the Williamson Act, preserving farm land in urban areas, an exemption to the Buy-America Act, and authored legislation creating the state park at Bodie. In the Senate, he was vice-chair of the Fish and Game Committee. At the time of the interview he was employed by SJR Jackson/Barrish, a lobbying firm.
From the description of Oral history interview with Paul J. Lunardi : oral history transcript / By Donald B. Seney, California State University, Sacramento, for the State Government Oral History Program, California State Archives, 1989. (University of California, Berkeley). WorldCat record id: 215198980
