# Violent Crime Coordinating Council *Minnesota statutory body codified at Minn. Stat. § 299A.642.* The **Violent Crime Coordinating Council** is a [[Minnesota]] body whose statute is Minn. Stat. § 299A.642. The record's claim row for that section describes the Council as a successor body.[^1] The record assembled for this article does not include the statute's text. It therefore does not establish the Council's membership, appointing authority, budget or outputs, and none is stated here. The Council appears in one at-issue pair, which concerns [[Kathleen Heaney]] of the [[Sherburne County Attorney's office]]. The pair records that Heaney served as President of the [[Minnesota County Attorneys Association]] in 2015. It also records that she does not sit on the Council.[^2] The Council is a body of the State of Minnesota. On January 14, 2026, the [[United States Department of Justice]] sued the State under [[Title VII]]. Its release No. 26-21 described the State's apparatus as "Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime," and Attorney General Pamela Bondi certified the case as a matter of general public importance.[^3] The complaint in [[United States v. State of Minnesota (0:26-cv-00273)]] (D. Minn.), brought under Title VII of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]], cites [[Minn. Stat. § 43A.191]] eight times. Those citations include subd. 3(c)'s requirement that an agency explain the reason for hiring a non-affirmative candidate.[^4][^5] The action is pending, and the record shows no ruling. The project's catalogue of U.S.-government "regime" usages, which includes the [[Iraq Liberation Act]]'s reference to "the regime headed by Saddam Hussein," finds Minnesota the only U.S. state so described.[^6] The record does not connect the Council to the federal action. ## Who The Council's statute is Minn. Stat. § 299A.642, which the record lists as the provision for the Council as a successor body.[^1] No roster or list of appointing officials is in the record. The one record naming the Council places it among the State's criminal-justice bodies. These are the [[Sentencing Guidelines Commission]], the Violent Crime Coordinating Council, the [[POST Board]] and governor-appointed criminal-justice task forces. The pair lists them as bodies on which the Sherburne County Attorney did not sit.[^2] ## In the at-issue record - **At issue 031 (Sherburne County).** The pair states that Kathleen Heaney "ran the Sherburne County Attorney's office for 22 years." It also states that she held more than 1,900 active criminal cases at her retirement and "served as President of the Minnesota County Attorneys Association in 2015." According to the pair, she "is not on the Sentencing Guidelines Commission, the Violent Crime Coordinating Council, the POST Board, or any governor-appointed criminal-justice task force." The pair gives the Heaney brief as its source and lists three underlying record sources.[^2] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota Revisor of Statutes, *Minn. Stat. § 299A.642* (current) — the statute citation for the Violent Crime Coordinating Council, recorded as a successor body. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/299A.642 [^2]: Minnesota wiki at-issue record, *At issue 031 (Sherburne County)* (2015; source: Heaney brief) — Heaney's 22-year tenure, 1,900+ active cases, 2015 MCAA presidency, and non-membership on the Council and the other listed bodies. The pair's only linked URL is its anchor, Executive Office of the President, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (Mar. 2025). That anchor does not itself establish the Heaney facts. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/ [^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime*, release No. 26-21 (Jan. 14, 2026) — the release title; the Attorney General's certification of general public importance. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-department-justice-files-lawsuit-against-minnesotas-affirmative-action-regime [^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, *Complaint, United States v. State of Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-00273 (D. Minn. filed Jan. 14, 2026) — Title VII action; cites Minn. Stat. § 43A.191 eight times, including subd. 3(c). https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1423361/dl [^5]: Minnesota Revisor of Statutes, *Minn. Stat. § 43A.191* (current) — the statute text the complaint cites. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/43A.191 [^6]: U.S. Congress, *Iraq Liberation Act of 1998*, Pub. L. 105-338 — states the policy of supporting efforts to remove "the regime headed by Saddam Hussein." This is a usage in the project's "regime" catalogue (*How Minnesota Got Here*, note 40), whose Minnesota-only finding is the project's own. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-105publ338/pdf/PLAW-105publ338.pdf