FSC - What We Do

FSC frequently engages in empirical research unrelated to particular litigation. At times, this research is supported by a particular client interested in discovering an answer or documenting a need. For example:

	The Cascade Policy Institute funded FSC to consider models of local regulation of "home-based business" as that sector of the economy continues to boom.
	The U.S. Department of Energy (through Oak Ridge National Laboratory) asked FSC to consider what types of an "obligation to serve" are imposed in non-utility industries.
	The Electric Advisory Panel of the Colorado General Assembly hired FSC to prepare a detailed discussion of the impact that restructuring the electric power industry would have on prices and service quality to low-income consumers.

At other times, FSC research is motivated simply by the "need to know" rather than by a particular client. For example:

	FSC prepared an analysis of the tests to use in deciding whether a "group home" for disabled persons is a "residential" property use.
	FSC completed a study of Missouri Head Start families relating to how unaffordable home energy bills affected the educational attainment of low-income students.

FSC remains committed to the power of knowledge. And the accumulation of knowledge requires the type of sound, sophisticated socio-economic empirical research which FSC seeks to provide.

Past supporters of FSC research include (but are not limited to):

	Colorado Energy Assistance Foundation
	Washington Department of Communities, Trade and Economic Development
	National Consumer Law Center
	Cascade Policy Institute
	Oak Ridge National Laboratory
	National Council on Competition and the Electric Industry
	American Public Power Association
	Iowa Department of Human Rights

	Home-Based Enterprise in Oregon: Improving Local Regulation of an Important Economic Asset
	Outreach Strategies for Iowa's LIHEAP Program: Innovation in Improved Targeting
	The Control of Occupational Exposure to Tuberculosis: Final Report on Site Visits to Nine Homeless Shelters
	The "Obligation to Serve" and a Competitive Electric Industry

Many of our research papers and publications can be found in the FSC Library.