On December 4, 2015, the President signed into law the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act), Public Law 114-94, which among other things, amended the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) highway safety grant program (23 U.S.C. 402) and the national priority safety program grants (23 U.S.C. 405). FAST Act requires NHTSA to award grants pursuant to rulemaking (Sec. 4001(d)) and to establish the minimum qualification criteria for the graduated driver licensing (GDL) grant in accordance with the notice and comment provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (23 U.S.C. 405(g)(3)(A)). NHTSA must expedite a rulemaking to implement and provide sufficient notice to the States of the statutory amendments to the qualification criteria of the State GDL incentive grant under 23 U.S.C. 405(g). By statute, NHTSA must issue fiscal year 2017 grants as early in the fiscal year as possible. For fiscal year 2017 grants, the statutory grant application date is July 1, 2016. Failure to make awards within each fiscal year in a timely manner will negatively impact State highway safety programs. Once the rule becomes effective, States need sufficient time to pass complaint legislation and apply for the grants.