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Not every October surprise has to be frightening. This month, the Insights Association helped deliver several significant wins for the insights industry in California, while keeping watch over a new crop of privacy, AI, accessibility and Census challenges across the country. IA also rolled out an updated Code of Standards and Ethics and continued to promote and protect the integrity of the market research, insights and data analytics profession.

The Census Bureau’s proposed rule to rewrite how the next decennial census is run poses substantial challenges to the insights industry. The rule will restrict demographic questions, and change who counts and where they are counted.

The governor vetoed California A.B. 1542, a bill opposed by the Insights Association that would have prohibited most companies from selling sensitive personal information to a third party. States are cracking down on data sharing, but the governor worried about “unintended consequences if consumers are removed entirely from the decision process."

Insights Association advocacy helped protect the conduct of market research, insights and analytics in three California privacy and AI bills, curtailing the impact on relations with research subjects before the bills became law.

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed an Insights Association-endorsed bill into law on September 30, 2026, finally cracking down on abusive litigation that has plagued some insights firms.

As summer gives way to fall, U.S. policymakers are giving the insights industry plenty to keep an eye on. This month, the Insights Association backed a new California law clarifying the legality of alcohol taste-testing research, pushed back against proposed changes to the 2030 Census and delays in critical census data, supported legislation to curb abusive privacy lawsuits, and tracked a fresh wave of state privacy and artificial intelligence proposals affecting insights businesses across the c...

A new law in the Golden State, supported by the Insights Association, specifically authorizes alcohol taste testing market research, following years of unofficial guidance and vague legal status.

The U.S. Census Bureau just proposed to eliminate race and ethnicity questions from the 2030 Census, a move vigorously opposed by the Insights Association for its detrimental impact on the insights industry and the broader business world. The proposal also includes changes to rules for counting immigrants and others.

The Census Bureau announced an indefinite delay in the release of American Community Survey (ACS) data, which poses a severe threat to the ability of the market research, insights and analytics industry to deliver statistically representative and reliable insights.

The dog days of summer brought no slowdown in legislative and regulatory activity affecting the insights industry. In August, the Insights Association confronted fraudulent polling masquerading as research, opposed a reported proposal to eliminate race and ethnicity data from the 2030 Census, pushed for funding flexibility for the Census Bureau, and examined state and federal requirements involving consumer privacy, children’s and seniors’ data, and conversational artificial intelligence.