53:2-9 Division to assume powers, assets, duties after transfer date.

4. a. Until the transfer date established pursuant to section 31 of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.53:2-36) shall have become operative, the division shall not exercise any powers, rights, or duties conferred by P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.) or by any other law in any way which will interfere with the powers, rights, and duties of the commission. The division and the commission are directed to cooperate with each other after the date of notification pursuant to section 2 of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-230) until the transfer date, and the commission shall make available to the division all information concerning its property and assets, contracts, operations, and finances within New Jersey as the division may require to provide for the efficient exercise by the division of all powers, rights, and duties conferred upon the division by P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.).

b. After the transfer date established pursuant to section 31 of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.53:2-36).

(1) The division shall assume all of the powers, rights, assets, and duties of the commission within this State, and those powers, rights, assets, and duties shall then and thereafter be vested in and exercised by the division;

(2) The officers having custody of the funds of the commission applicable to this State shall deliver those funds into the custody of the State Treasurer, the property and assets of the commission within this State shall, without further act or deed, become the property and assets of the division; and

(3) Any officers and employees of the commission seeking to be transferred to the division may apply to become employees of the division until determined otherwise by the division. Nothing in P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.) shall be construed to deprive any officers or employees of the commission of their rights, privileges, obligations, or status with respect to any pension or retirement system. The commission employees shall retain all of their rights and benefits under existing collective negotiation agreements or contracts until such time as new or revised agreements or contracts are agreed to. All existing employee representatives shall be retained to act on behalf of those employees until such time as the employees shall, pursuant to law, elect to change those representatives. If an existing officer or employee becomes a member of an administered retirement system of the State of New Jersey, the officer or employee shall receive the same amount of service credit in the retirement system as the officer or employee previously had in the pension or retirement system as an employee of the commission, provided that there is a transfer of funds, or purchase, of the full cost of that credit from the pension or retirement system of the commission to an administered retirement system of the State of New Jersey. Nothing in P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.) shall affect the civil service status, if any, of those officers or employees;

(4) All debts, liabilities, obligations, and contracts of the commission applicable only to this State, as determined by the officers having custody of the funds of the commission, except to the extent specifically provided for or established to the contrary in P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.), are imposed upon the division, and all creditors of the commission and persons having claims against or contracts with the commission of any kind or character may enforce those debts, claims, and contracts against the division as successor to the commission in the same manner as they might have done against the commission, and the rights and remedies of those holders, creditors, and persons having claims against or contracts with the commission shall not be limited or restricted in any manner by P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.);

(5) In continuing the functions, contracts, obligations, and duties of the commission within this State, the division is authorized to act in its own name as may be convenient or advisable under the circumstances from time to time;

(6) Any references to the commission in any other law or regulation shall then and thereafter be deemed to refer and apply to the division;

(7) All rules and regulations of the commission shall continue in effect as the rules and regulations of the division until amended, supplemented, or rescinded by the division pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.). Regulations of the commission inconsistent with the provisions of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.) or of regulations of the division shall be deemed void;

(8) All operations of the commission within this State shall continue as operations of the division until altered by the division as provided or permitted pursuant to P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.); and

(9) The powers vested in the division by P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.) shall be construed as being in addition to, and not in diminution of, the powers heretofore vested by law in the commission to the extent not otherwise altered or provided for in P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-229 et al.).

c. A license, registration, or permit issued by the commission prior to the date of notification pursuant to section 2 of P.L.2017, c.324 (C.32:23-230) shall, subject to the terms of its issuance, continue to be valid on and after the transfer date as a license, registration, or permit issued by the division. An application for a license, registration, or permit filed with the commission prior to and pending on that notification date shall, as of and from the notification date, be deemed to be filed with and pending before the division.

L.2017, c.324, s.4.