Blocked the Misguided, So-Called Innovation Act

In 2014 and 2015, Scott led the opposition to the Innovation Act, which threatened small innovators by making drastic, sweeping changes to the patent system. Colleges and Universities, medical researchers, and inventors all opposed the bill because of the chilling effect it would have on investment in innovation. In 2015, Scott was credited as having been instrumental in preventing the bill from moving forward after he led a letter signed by a bipartisan group of 78 Members of Congress. San Diego is home to a unique innovation ecosystem that drives research breakthroughs, leads to new cures and treatments for our most perplexing diseases and illnesses, and results in new technology for both consumers and the Department of Defense. The changes proposed by the Innovation Act threatened to turn our innovation ecosystem inside out, stifle investment in new discoveries, and put small inventors at a disadvantage when large, established companies steal their ideas.

R&D Tax Credit

Since coming to Congress, Scott has been a vocal advocate for the extension of the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit. The R&D Tax Credit provides an incentive for businesses to invest in innovation. At the end of 2015, Scott supported passage of an omnibus appropriations bill that made the R&D tax credit permanent, eliminating uncertainty for businesses and providing a true incentive for innovation. San Diego is home to some of the country’s most innovative companies. Congress has a bad habit of extending tax credits after they have already expired. This is not an incentive for new innovation.

Protecting Qualcomm from a Hostile Takeover

In 2018, Scott raised serious concerns over the national security implications of the proposed takeover of San Diego’s Qualcomm by Broadcomm, a Chinese company. He wrote a letter to Secretary of Commerce Mnuchin requesting that the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence provide a classified report for Congress assessing whether Qualcomm’s global leadership in the development of 5G technology. Scott also requested a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), should the deal move forward. The Trump administration heeded Scott’s call and prevented the merger. Congress must ensure the intellectual property of U.S. companies, particularly when involved with future competitive development like 5G, are protected.

Federal Technology Innovation and Testing

Scott led a bipartisan amendment to the Studying How to Harness Airwave Resources Efficiently (SHARE) Act of 2019, which creates a program to assess how federal agencies may be able to share spectrum and prototype new technologies. His amendment included other technologies called synchronization and look-before-talk, which can increase efficiency in spectrum uses. The amendment was accepted and the bill passed out of the E&C committee in November of 2019. San Diego leads the way in research future uses of spectrum technologies and needs support from the federal government.