Congressman Scott Tipton was raised in Cortez, Colorado. He graduated from Ft. Lewis College in Durango, where he studied Political Science and became the first person in his family to earn a college degree. After college, he returned home to Cortez and co-founded Mesa Verde Indian Pottery with his brother Joe. It was through his business that Scott met his wife, Jean, who is a former school teacher. The Tiptons have two daughters, Liesl and Elizabeth, two sons-in-law, Chris and Jace, and three grandchildren.
After three decades of running his small business, Scott was elected as a Republican to the Colorado House of Representatives for the 58th District in November of 2008. During his time at the State House, he worked to ensure quality water for the people of Colorado and to improve the air quality of Southwest Colorado. He also sponsored legislation to protect children from the worst criminal offenders by mandating harsher penalties for child sex-offenders and allowing law enforcement to collect DNA evidence from suspects through Jessica’s Law and Katie’s Law.
Scott was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010. He currently serves on the House Committee on Financial Services. He is Co-chairman of the Congressional Small Business Caucus and Vice Chair of the Congressional Western Caucus.
Throughout his time as a U.S. Representative, Scott’s priority has been to advance policies that grow jobs, support the economy, and keep Colorado’s families safe and secure.
Scott pushed hard to advance a federal version of Katie’s Law to encourage additional states to implement minimum DNA collection standards and enhanced collection processes for felons in order to strengthen law enforcement’s ability to prevent violent crimes, and protect women and children. That effort became a reality when the President signed Katie’s Law on January 3, 2013.
Scott has passed numerous pieces of legislation in the House of Representatives, including bills to advance healthy forest management and prevent wildfire, and encourage all-of-the-above energy development. Scott’s bipartisan bill to advance the development of clean, renewable hydropower was signed into law on August 9, 2013. He is also leading the charge in Congress to stop federal attempts to encroach on private property, including fighting massive federal grabs of privately-held water rights—standing up for farmers and ranchers, the ski industry, and all who rely on their water rights to survive.
Scott has used his experience as a small businessman to inform his work in Congress. He is a co-founder of the Congressional Small Business Caucus, a bipartisan caucus committed to open dialogue on the issues that most impact small businesses. Scott has led the bipartisan effort to give community banks more flexibility to focus their limited resources on community needs. His bill, the Small Bank Exam Cycle Reform Act of 2015, was signed into law in the 114th Congress. Scott continues to work to advance policies that foster the economic certainty needed for small businesses and entrepreneurs to succeed and create jobs.
As Vice Chair of the Congressional Western Caucus, Scott is the champion of efforts to implement to an all-of-the-above energy solution that balances common sense conservation with responsible development. He has fought to protect farmers and ranchers from regulatory overreach, as well as pushed for expanded trade opportunities for Colorado products.
Scott will continue the fight to bring Colorado common sense to Washington—focusing on reforming regulation, reining in executive overreach, protecting Colorado’s natural environment, encouraging responsible all-of-the-above energy development, reducing government spending, and removing hurdles so that small businesses can do what they do best—create jobs.