Since last year, 2012 has been heralded as something of a comeback year for IPOs, with financial news outlet 24/7 Wall St. estimating that more than 200 companies are poised to go public this year (including a little startup called Facebook). A recent bill will make that process easier for those companies. President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act into law April 5, commenting in a statement that “America's high-growth entrepreneurs and small businesses play a vital role in creating jobs and growing the economy,” and that the act would help them raise capital, create jobs and strengthen the economy.

That's a tall order. But in aiming to shore up the U.S. IPO market, the JOBS Act brings major change, creating a new category of issuer—the emerging-growth company, which it defines as having less than $1 billion in annual revenues—and creating a streamlined route to IPOs with fewer regulatory burdens along the way. And experts say some of its numerous provisions could become critical tools for companies in a broad range of positions.

“The provisions of the act touch on various points in the growth cycle,” says Matthew Kaplan, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, “from startup through maturing private company, and accessing the public capital markets, in terms of emerging growth companies taking advantage of IPO exemptions and transition periods and potential public companies that are looking to raise capital in private markets.”