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June brought lots of sizzling policy developments for the insights industry -- some promising, others challenging. Thankfully, the Insights Association was right in the thick of it. Let’s look at some wins on privacy issues and political polling, a troubling GDPR case in Europe, lots of new guidance on privacy, AI, HR, and email laws, developments on indirect costs in federally-funded research, and more.

The Governor of Minnesota today signed a bill into law that legalizes exit polling at Minnesota voting places. The Marketing Research Association (MRA) had previously testified in support of the law in the state legislature.

A volunteer leader of the Marketing Research Association (MRA) testified this morning at a Minnesota committee hearing in defense of exit polling. Gayle Belkengren, President of the MRA Minnesota/Upper Midwest Chapter, spoke in the Minnesota State House in support of legalizing exit pollsters’ access to voting places.

The Marketing Research Association (MRA) endorsed legislation today in the state of Minnesota that would make it legal for researchers to do exit polling near a voting place. The bill, S.F. 2388, is being considered today in a hearing of the Senate Committee on State and Local Government Operations and Oversight.

The Minnesota Board of Pharmacy has revised the language of an important Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) to ensure that payments to Minnesota health care practitioners for participation in bona fide market research are NOT prohibited or restricted.

The U.S. survey and research profession testified today before a joint hearing in the Minnesota House and Senate. The Marketing Research Association’s (MRA) Director of Government Affairs, Howard Fienberg, PLC, defended the use of physician incentives in pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing.