2016 Congressional Forum - May

Featured Speaker:
Derek Schmidt,
Kansas Attorney General

Derek Schmidt was elected the 44th attorney general of Kansas in 2010 and was reelected to a second term in 2014.

Under Attorney General Schmidt’s leadership, the office has focused on prosecuting crimes against children, protecting senior citizens from scams and rip-offs, recovering record-setting amounts of money for Kansas consumers and taxpayers, providing professional legal services for the State of Kansas, and standing up against overreach by the federal government.

Attorney General Schmidt has personally and successfully argued two Kansas murder cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. He has led the successful efforts to strengthen Kansas law against human trafficking, to toughen penalties for defrauding senior citizens and for stealing from the Kansas Medicaid program, to build a modern forensic science laboratory for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, to extend the Do-Not-Call law to cover consumer cellphones, and to enact the Kansas RICO law to combat drug-and-gang violence.

Schmidt has been honored with the Criminal Justice Professional of the Year Award from the Wichita Crime Commission, the Friend of Law Enforcement Award from the Kansas Sheriffs Association, the Policy Maker of the Year Award from the Kansas County and District Attorneys Association, and the Guardian of Small Business Award from the Kansas chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses. In 2015, his peers nationwide elected him Vice President for the National Association of Attorneys General.

Before being elected attorney general, Schmidt served as a Kansas State Senator representing part of Southeast Kansas, as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and as the Senate Majority Leader. He previously served as counsel to Kansas Governor Bill Graves, legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum, and as an assistant attorney general for consumer protection.