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The leading nonprofit trade association for the insights industry delivered testimony today at the House Appropriations Committee about the U.S. Census Bureau’s “Ask U.S. Panel” project and the legislative solutions the association has sought to bring transparency to the wasteful project.

The Insights Association (IA) continues to raise concerns about the Census Bureau's Ask U.S. Panel project, which would subsidize a private entity to develop a probability-based online research panel instead of purchasing the service from existing providers that already offer the service on the open market.

Since our last Fighting for You, the Insights Association has been charging full-steam into debates over consumer privacy and data security at the state, federal and trans-national levels; opposing a new project at the Census Bureau that would compete directly against the insights industry; scrutinizing Congressional legislation and possible Securities and Exchange Commission regulation that could treat research subjects like employees, instead of independent contractors; and advocating against ...

Research Business Daily Report (RBDR) explored the growing controversy over the Census Bureau’s attempt to launch their own probability-based online panel to compete with the insights industry, and spoke with the Insights Association to learn more.

The Insights Association contended that a Census Bureau plan "to develop a probability-based research panel would be duplicative, at best; numerous private sector insights companies and organizations already provide well-established high-quality probability-based panels. The Bureau’s plan is also anti-competitive, given these existing panels and the Bureau’s intent to fund an additional insights firm to build one."

Robert Santos was sworn in as the new director of the Census Bureau on January 5, 2022, taking charge at an important time of transition.

State of Play, a program on Black News Channel, recently spoke with the Insights Association to learn more about the importance of the census.

Along the lines of the legislation we had advocated last year to give the Census Bureau more time, the Bureau announced recently that it would not be able to report 2020 Census state-level results for purposes of apportionment until approximately April 30.

Presuming President Trump signs it into law, the omnibus package of coronavirus relief and Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) appropriations includes important wins for the insights industry: (1) funding for the census; (2) the extension and expansion of forgivable loans for small businesses; and (3) the extension of the payroll retention tax credit.

With the decennial headcount just about to start, Congress finally delivered full funding to the Census Bureau for Fiscal Year 2020.