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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.

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.

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...

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.

March blew in like a lion for the insights industry, but it shows no signs of leaving like a lamb, as the Insights Association grappled with lots of advocacy issues, including: complicated new prohibitions on data sharing with certain foreign countries (and companies controlled by them); a new FTC nominee; worrisome tax bills in Maryland; a California bill to restrict artificial intelligence in interactions with research subjects; a new U.S. Labor Secretary potentially hostile to treating resear...

Summer may be winding down, but public policy disputes impacting the insights industry continued apace in August, including: new state privacy laws; new laws and guidance on artificial intelligence; and a key court decision on non-compete agreements in employment contracts. The Insights Association also managed a win on kids’ privacy legislation in the U.S. Senate and led the charge against a legislative proposal that would ruin the decennial Census and the American Community Survey (ACS).

Despite all the political turmoil in the U.S., the Insights Association remained focused on advocacy on our bread-and-butter policy issues in July, including heated fights over census funding, delays in federal noncompete rules, proposed portable benefits for independent contractors (that could include research subjects), more AI legislation, and a win on some IA-supported legislation in Congress.

With summer almost upon us, the Insights Association focused this month on a new U.S. law prohibiting many data transfers to China and vaguely-Chinese-owned companies, federal minors’ privacy bills, more AI legislation, and how insights employers can comply with the new FTC rule banning non-compete agreements in employment contracts, among other policy issues.

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.