The Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act, or FAST Act, is really a transportation bill but has provisions meant to simplify securities laws and capital raising measures.

The FAST Act was signed into law by President Obama on December 4, 2015. Important provisions of the FAST Act include:

• Allowing issuers to obtain the benefits of being an emerging growth company even if emerging growth company status is lost before an offering is completed.
• Permitting emerging growth companies to omit financial information from registration statements if that information is not expected to be required at the time of an offering.
• Requiring the SEC to issue regulations to permit issuers to use a summary page for Form 10-K.
• Directing the SEC to perform a study, report to Congress and revise Regulation S-K to further scale and reduce the burden of Regulation S-K on emerging growth companies, accelerated filers, smaller reporting companies and smaller issuers and make other simplifications for all issuers.
• Codifying the so called 4(1-1/2) exemption for sales of restricted securities by persons other than the issuer, subject to significant conditions.
• Permitting smaller reporting companies to incorporate by reference in an S-1 registration statement documents that such company files with the SEC after the effective date of such registration.

For a comprehensive summary of the FAST Act securities law provisions, please visit our Dodd-Frank blog.