Chief justice appoints Amber Smith to Kansas Criminal Justice Coordinating Council

TOPEKA—Chief Justice Marla Luckert appointed Amber Smith as her designee on the Kansas Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.

Smith succeeds Justice Caleb Stegall, who previously served in this role.

Smith joined the judicial branch's Office of Judicial Administration as deputy judicial administrator in July 2019. She previously was chief litigation counsel for the Kansas Corporation Commission. She is a graduate of Washburn University School of Law and holds a bachelor's and a master's degree in business administration and a bachelor's degree in economics, all from Washburn University.

The Kansas Legislature created the Kansas Criminal Justice Coordinating Council in 1994. The council:

• develops and oversees reporting of all criminal justice federal funding available to the state or local units of government; and

• oversees management of the criminal justice information system. 

Other council members include the governor or designee, the attorney general, the secretary of corrections, the superintendent of the Kansas Highway Patrol, and the director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.