IIB 
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 Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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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 fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(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 securi-
ties of the issuer pursuant to an effective reg-
istration 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
EXEMP-
TION.—An issuer ceases to be eligible for the exemp-
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tion 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 securi-
ties of the issuer pursuant to an effective reg-
istration 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 sub-
section: 
‘‘(A) AVERAGE
ANNUAL
GROSS
REVE-
NUES.—The term ‘average annual gross reve-
nues’ 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 mean-
ing given such term under section 3 of the Se-
curities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c). 
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‘‘(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 suc-
cessor thereto.’’. 
Passed the House of Representatives May 23, 2016. 
Attest: 
KAREN L. HAAS, 
Clerk. 
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