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As 2026 got underway, high-stakes battles extended beyond the football field as the Insights Association's advocacy blitz deployed on a fast-moving play-action package of federal and state privacy legislation (some helpful, some terribly harmful), emerging AI regulation, census funding and policy battles, and more. We’re highlighting where IA is shaping legislation and regulation to champion the insights industry at a critical moment on the policy calendar.

The U.S. House of Representatives is poised to pass a compromise Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) funding package by January 8, 2026, including money for the Census Bureau, that would stave off another government shutdown. The “minibus” bill excludes a provision opposed by IA that would have been detrimental to the decennial census and American Community Survey (ACS).

In between all the raking of leaves, the Insights Association continued its vigorous advocacy on the most pressing legislative and regulatory issues shaping the U.S. insights industry, from evolving state privacy frameworks to emerging artificial intelligence restrictions and even challenges to the census. November’s update highlights where IA is pushing back, pushing forward, and protecting your ability to conduct responsible, effective research.

While IA advocates for a better-resourced 2030 Census and American Community Survey (ACS), the federal government shutdown and continued funding battles have left a lot in limbo.

September brought interesting developments in advocacy issues facing the U.S. insights industry, including a gaggle of new state laws on data privacy and artificial intelligence (AI), the business community coalescing to defend the American Community Survey (ACS), a critical privacy decision in a European courtroom, a changing human resources landscape, and other legislation.

A dozen U.S. business groups warned Congressional leaders of the dangers from a provision in federal funding legislation that would “would crater response rates to all Census Bureau surveys and result in the decennial census and the American Community Survey (ACS) counting barely a third of the country,” while having “negative ripple effects across the U.S. economy” and particularly hurting rural areas and small population groups.

As summer wound down, the legal, legislative and regulatory issues facing the insights industry continued to wind up, with a ton of new privacy laws, regulations and court cases across the U.S., new laws and legal challenges for artificial intelligence in the insights context, President Trump calling out the decennial census, and more rules and compliance guidance for accessibility online. Let's dive in...

The Insights Association responded to President Donald Trump’s call for “a new and highly accurate census” by urging the White House to fully fund the 2030 Census.

The insights industry faced more than just April showers, as the first full month of spring brought tempestuous issues, such as whether recent federal government action against DEI and sex/gender identity means we can no longer ask demographic questions, and determining the current impact of DOGE on the industry. We weighed in with Congress on consumer data privacy legislation, looked at a new privacy law change in Utah and the status of some AI legislation in California, urged more funding for ...

The Insights Association joined a coalition letter urging Congress to provide $2 billion for the Census Bureau in Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26).