Articles

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.

A new rule from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) prohibits almost all non-compete agreements in employment contracts.

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!

The Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act (S. 722, H.R. 1477) would permit certain expenses associated with obtaining or maintaining postsecondary credentials (such as licenses, certifications, or certificates) to be treated as qualified higher education expenses for purposes of 529 tax savings accounts. The bills would transform college savings plans into career savings plans.

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.

As we close out an intense summer for the insights industry, the Insights Association has been focused on a wide variety of policy issues, including: the launch of a new program for legally transferring European Union personal data to the U.S.; looming worries in complying with state comprehensive consumer data privacy laws that came into effect on July 1, and newly-passed state laws in Florida and Tennessee; the latest developments in compliance concerns and regulation of artificial intelligenc...

As temperatures rose, so did the threats and opportunities for the insights industry in advocacy during May, ranging from three new comprehensive state privacy laws, advancing regulation of artificial intelligence, compliance concerns with state sales taxes, jousting over the Census Household Panel, restrictions on high-end incentives for research subjects, state legislation to ban non-competes, and a new Maryland law restricting most telephone calls for research purposes.

The insights industry faced challenges on multiple advocacy fronts in April, such as: growing risks from the boom in generative AI; new privacy laws and regulations; an FTC proposal to eliminate noncompete agreements; a new attempt at insourcing insights work by the Census Bureau; and a proposed new tax on data in Nevada.

While the Insights Association “agrees that there should be restrictions on noncompete agreements” in employment contracts, the leading nonprofit association for the insights industry filed comments on April 18, 2023 differing with the Federal Trade Commission's proposed regulations on “what such restrictions should look like and how they should be achieved.”

Welcome to spring, where the insights industry has been facing challenges in regulation and legislation, including state and federal data privacy (especially the finalized rules you need to know in California), the treatment of research subjects as independent contractors, and prohibitions on non-compete agreements. We also welcomed the new scathing conclusions of a federal investigation into the Census Bureau’s attempt to compete against the insights industry, and reviewed the players on Congr...