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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4139 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

<DOC>
114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4139

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 24, 2016

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, 
                           and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

 
    To amend the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to provide a temporary 
  exemption for low-revenue issuers from certain auditor attestation 
                             requirements.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fostering Innovation Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. TEMPORARY EXEMPTION FOR LOW-REVENUE ISSUERS.

    Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7262) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(d) Temporary Exemption for Low-Revenue Issuers.--
            ``(1) Low-revenue exemption.--Subsection (b) shall not 
        apply with respect to an audit report prepared for an issuer 
        that--
                    ``(A) ceased to be an emerging growth company on 
                the last day of the fiscal year of the issuer following 
                the fifth anniversary of the date of the first sale of 
                common equity securities of the issuer pursuant to an 
                effective registration statement under the Securities 
                Act of 1933;
                    ``(B) had average annual gross revenues of less 
                than $50,000,000 as of its most recently completed 
                fiscal year; and
                    ``(C) is not a large accelerated filer.
            ``(2) Expiration of temporary exemption.--An issuer ceases 
        to be eligible for the exemption described under paragraph (1) 
        at the earliest of--
                    ``(A) the last day of the fiscal year of the issuer 
                following the tenth anniversary of the date of the 
                first sale of common equity securities of the issuer 
                pursuant to an effective registration statement under 
                the Securities Act of 1933;
                    ``(B) the last day of the fiscal year of the issuer 
                during which the average annual gross revenues of the 
                issuer exceed $50,000,000; or
                    ``(C) the date on which the issuer becomes a large 
                accelerated filer.
            ``(3) Definitions.--For purposes of this subsection:
                    ``(A) Average annual gross revenues.--The term 
                `average annual gross revenues' means the total gross 
                revenues of an issuer over its most recently completed 
                3 fiscal years divided by 3.
                    ``(B) Emerging growth company.--The term `emerging 
                growth company' has the meaning given such term under 
                section 3 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 
                U.S.C. 78c).
                    ``(C) Large accelerated filer.--The term `large 
                accelerated filer' has the meaning given that term 
                under section 240.12b-2 of title 17, Code of Federal 
                Regulations, or any successor thereto.''.

            Passed the House of Representatives May 23, 2016.

            Attest:

                                                 KAREN L. HAAS,

                                                                 Clerk.
```