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Cool winds are blowing through DC and the state capitols, but the action in September remained hot on multiple policy fronts of interest to the insights industry. The Insights Association helped to snag wins against a tax on advertising research and a requirement for opt out preference signals, while also delving into pending legislation and new state and federal laws in data privacy, advancing legislation on artificial intelligence, new guidance for insights professionals using synthetic resear...

A provision that would have taxed advertising, explicitly including ad measurement and effectiveness research, was stripped out of the Governor’s big tax bill, Nebraska L.B. 1.

The first full month of spring brought with it a shiny new federal privacy bill, some developments on AI regulation, a tax win in Nebraska, a new federal ban on noncompetes, advances in preventing the government from competing with the insights industry, legislation moving in Minnesota on exit polling and political opinion research, complicated business payment disputes, and some new developments on competitive sourcing of insights services and the Census Household Panel.

​​​​​​​Legislation that would have taxed advertising, explicitly including ad measurement and effectiveness research, has died in the Nebraska legislature.

The insights industry’s public policy concerns entered March roaring like a lion, but they are not exactly leaving it like a lamb. President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address to Congress touched on a few of them, including privacy, artificial intelligence (AI) and research subjects who receive incentives. Further this month, IA is engaging with legislation and regulation on data privacy, including potential harsh restrictions on data sharing with Chinese-controlled companies and restricti...

This month, the Insights Association focused on extensive artificial intelligence legislation at the state level, urgent developments in privacy compliance in California and Washington state, new bills on census issues (including one that would kill the ACS), the insights compliance concerns with sales taxes on SaaS and PaaS, and a couple of new telephone-related bills.

Kicking off another year of advocacy for the insights industry, the Insights Association focused in January on proposed children’s privacy rules, a new tax bill in Nebraska, turning 529 accounts into career savings plans, a proposed tax on displacing employees with any kind of technology, and the Biden Administration’s extensive new artificial intelligence policies… and lots more!

As the insights industry closes out 2023 on the calendar, the Insights Association looked back at our advocacy wins and losses on various consumer data privacy issues, and taxes, while checking in on legislation, regulation, and laws at the state and federal level on privacy, taxes, the independent contractor status of research subjects, and artificial intelligence.

As Halloween rapidly approaches, the Insights Association is searching for treats in legislation and regulation while trying to defuse the tricks that may pose a threat to the insights industry. In October, we looked at the FTC and some privacy legislation concerns, argued against proposed state data taxes, analyzed AI regulatory proposals, looked at new non-compete restrictions in California, and new federal registration responsibilities for a lot of small insights businesses.

The Insights Association (IA), the leading nonprofit trade association for the market research and data analytics industry, is urging the District of Columbia to reject a proposal that would tax consumer data.