ISO 20252 and Federal Contracting Howard Fienberg Government Affairs 7/14/2025 2:24:00 PM The Insights Association has urged the federal government to add the market research ISO 20252 to the list of approved and accepted certifications for federal contractors. Read More
New U.S. Law Gives Financial Boost to Continuing Education for Insights Professionals Howard Fienberg Government Affairs 7/8/2025 2:56:00 PM The big tax and budget reconciliation law, signed by President Trump on July 4, 2025, includes a provision sought by the Insights Association to empower the insights industry’s workforce with more flexible and affordable approaches to training. Read More
Fighting for You: June 2025 Legislative and Regulatory Update Howard Fienberg Government Affairs 6/26/2025 3:16:00 PM June brought lots of sizzling policy developments for the insights industry -- some promising, others challenging. Thankfully, the Insights Association was right in the thick of it. Let’s look at some wins on privacy issues and political polling, a troubling GDPR case in Europe, lots of new guidance on privacy, AI, HR, and email laws, developments on indirect costs in federally-funded research, and more. Read More
Florida Kills Proposal That Would Have Prohibited Election Polling by State Universities Howard Fienberg Government Affairs 6/23/2025 8:07:00 AM The Florida legislature turned its back on a bill opposed by the Insights Association that would have banned public colleges and universities from polling on political candidates. Read More
New Approaches Proposed for Indirect Costs in Federally-Funded Research Howard Fienberg Government Affairs 6/13/2025 3:12:00 PM Early in the second Trump Administration, the federal government instituted a uniform 15 percent cap on indirect cost rates in government-funded research (including insights work). A group of experts are developing new models for funding indirect costs, and the Insights Association seeks member feedback on it. Read More
CFPB Withdraws Data Broker Rules That Could Have Clobbered Insights Work Howard Fienberg Government Affairs 6/3/2025 5:01:00 PM The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) withdrew a regulatory proposal that could have unfairly applied restrictions in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to the work of many insights professionals. It would have been a misguided legal end-run around Congress to create a federal privacy law. Read More
Fighting for You: May 2025 Legislative and Regulatory Update Howard Fienberg Government Affairs 5/29/2025 8:41:00 AM Legislative and regulatory issues facing the insights industry are blooming all over, including: a new FTC commissioner; proposed reform of the federal government research process; U.S. House-passed legislation to empower insights professionals with more training, while also prohibiting state AI regulation; state sales taxes advancing for insights-related services; a proposed ban on polling by public universities; new compliance guidance for the federal ban on sensitive data transfers to certain... Read More
House Budget Reconciliation Bill Passed with Provision Empowering Insights Professionals Howard Fienberg Government Affairs 5/22/2025 8:54:00 AM Budget reconciliation legislation, which included a provision sought by the Insights Association to empower the insights industry’s workforce with more training, has passed the U.S. House of Representatives. Read More
Insights Association Urges Reform of Federal Government Research Policy Howard Fienberg Government Affairs 5/12/2025 12:41:00 PM Noting that the U.S. government’s current approach “to survey, opinion and market research, unchanged since 2006, wastes taxpayer resources and hurts the private sector,” the leading nonprofit trade association for the insights industry called for the urgent modernization of federal research policy. Read More
More IA Thoughts on Federal Privacy Legislation Howard Fienberg Government Affairs 4/25/2025 4:06:00 PM In addition to the Insights Association's extensive recent comments to the House Energy & Commerce Committee on crafting federal privacy legislation, the nonprofit association also joined a coalition letter supporting a set of broad policy principles to guide such a bill. Read More