Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Jodi Hicks

17. Jodi Hicks

This has been a brutal year for Hicks, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. Cutting off federal funding to her organization has been a dream of conservative federal lawmakers for decades, and with the election of Donald Trump that dream has become reality. Not that Hicks was unprepared – she has in fact been preparing for this possibility for years now. She has been the unquestioned leader inside the halls of the California Capitol and at the ballot box to codify abortion rights into state law and to protect state funding wherever possible, regardless of the current political environment in D.C. and the fiscal challenges in Sacramento. Hicks is not the kind to run from a fight, and there is no question she will continue to battle for the mostly low-income California women who depend on Planned Parenthood for their health care needs – abortion and beyond. Previously the Legislative Director for the National Organization for Women and a Vice President of Government Relations at the California Medical Association, Hicks is also a board member of Open California, the publisher of Capitol Weekly.

Updated Aug. 26, 2025