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Temperatures may be cooling as the calendar turns to autumn, but legislative issues are heating up as lawmakers get back to work following summer breaks. Here are some of the key issues we're engaged with at the national and state level on your behalf...

The Insights Association, in concert with Census Project coalition allies, is urging Congress to help address "the many challenges and opportunities facing the U.S. Census Bureau" by providing at least $1.505 billion in funding in Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23).

The Insights Association has worked throughout July and August to improve a comprehensive federal privacy bill that passed out of committee in the U.S. House, counter a harmful bill in Delaware, and urge changes to California’s pending state privacy regulations. Also, IA’s campaign for transparency in the Census Bureau’s Ask U.S. Panel project, which would compete against the insights industry, has spurred Congressional action.

The Senate Appropriations Committee will require a detailed report from the U.S. Census Bureau about the Ask U.S. Panel, which the Insights Association has warned "could waste millions of taxpayer dollars in a vain attempt to compete with existing online research panel providers, instead of simply purchasing those services on the open market for a fraction of the cost.”

To our pleasant surprise, Congress has actually been cutting compromises on federal privacy legislation, as the Insights Association has been seeking, so that has been a big focus this month, along with other privacy and data security concerns. Also on this month’s docket have been rules to treat a research subject as an independent contractor, the use of employee non-compete agreements, funding for the U.S. Census, and the regulation of alcohol market research.

As the Congressional appropriations process slowly moves forward for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23), the Insights Association is supporting a significant increase in funding for the decennial census and the American Community Survey (ACS). Quality data from these constitutionally-mandated programs are essential to the function of the insights industry.

As summer approaches, the Insights Association continues to engage on state privacy legislation, new prohibitions on selling insights services to Russia, the Census Bureau’s Ask U.S. Panel, possible taxes aimed at online insights companies, and other pressing policy issues.

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 ...