Jump to content

Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Justarandomperson (talk | contribs) at 15:38, 21 January 2016 (→‎Unrelated provisions). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act
Great Seal of the United States
Other short titlesFederal Public Transportation Act of 2015

Transportation for Tomorrow Act of 2015
Hazardous Materials Transportation Safety Improvement Act of 2015
Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2015
Track, Railroad, and Infrastructure Network Act
Railroad Infrastructure Financing Improvement Act
Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act of 2015
Driver Privacy Act of 2015
Safety Through Informed Consumers Act of 2015
Tire Efficiency, Safety, and Registration Act of 2015
Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act
Export-Import Bank Reform and Reauthorization Act of 2015
State Licensing Efficiency Act of 2015

Helping Expand Lending Practices in Rural Communities Act of 2015
Long titleAn Act to authorize funds for Federal-aid highways, highway safety programs, and transit programs, and for other purposes
NicknamesFAST Act
Enacted bythe 114th United States Congress
Citations
Public lawPub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 114–94 (text) (PDF)
Legislative history
  • Signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 4, 2015

The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act is a funding and authorization bill to govern United States federal surface transportation spending. It was passed by Congress on December 3, 2015, and President Barack Obama signed it on December 4.[1][2] The vote was 359-65 in the House of Representatives and 83-16 in the United States Senate.[1]

The $305 billion, five-year bill is funded without increasing transportation user fees.[3] (The federal gas tax was last raised in 1993.)[4] Instead, funds were generated through changes to passport rules, Federal Reserve Bank dividends, and privatized tax collection.[1][5]

Unrelated provisions

  • This law authorizes the Export-Import Bank of the United States through 2019.[2]
  • New crop insurance funding is approved.[6]
  • Emigrant Savings Bank is exempted from certain provisions of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.[7]
  • The Act also includes several revisions to federal securities law, including Section 76001 of the Act. This provision creates a new Section 4(a)(7) of the Securities Act of 1933, a new exemption from registration under that act intended to facilitate secondary trading of private company securities among accredited investors. By so doing, Congress and the President hoped to support smaller, nonpublic companies with their capital raising efforts by providing more liquidity for their securities, with reduced regulatory burdens. [8][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c Laing, Keith; Carney, Jordain (December 3, 2015). "Senate sends $305B highway bill to Obama". The Hill. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Laing, Keith (December 4, 2015). "Obama signs $305B highway bill". The Hill. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  3. ^ 5-Year, $300 Billion “FAST Act” Will Extend Transpo Policy Status Quo to 2020 | Streetsblog USA
  4. ^ When did the Federal Government begin collecting the gas tax? - Ask the Rambler - Highway History - FHWA
  5. ^ Congress Orders IRS To Use Private Debt Collection Companies - Forbes
  6. ^ "Highway bill has some farm help too". Farm Futures. December 4, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  7. ^ Carter, Zach (December 1, 2015). "Congress Is About To Hand This Bank A Ridiculous Gift". The Huffington Post. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  8. ^ David Lynn; Anna Pinedo (December 7, 2015). "FAST Forward: A Summary of the Securities Law Provisions of the FAST Act (client alert)" (PDF). MOFO Jumpstarter. Morrison Foerster. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  9. ^ SecondMarket. "Secondary Trading Markets" (PDF). Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved 21 January 2016.