Section 25-15-1. Office of Safety Fire Commissioner to be successor to Department of Labor relating to transferred functions; transfer of employees; Safety Fire Commissioner to report on effects and results of this Code section

   (a) The office of Safety Fire Commissioner shall succeed to all rules, regulations, policies, procedures, and administrative orders of the Department of Labor in effect on June 30, 2012, or scheduled to go into effect on or after July 1, 2012, and which relate to the functions transferred to the office of Safety Fire Commissioner pursuant to this chapter and Part 6 of Article 1 of Chapter 2 of Title 8 and shall further succeed to any rights, privileges, entitlements, obligations, and duties of the Department of Labor in effect on June 30, 2012, which relate to the functions transferred to the office of Safety Fire Commissioner pursuant to this chapter and Part 6 of Article 1 of Chapter 2 of Title 8. Such rules, regulations, policies, procedures, and administrative orders shall remain in effect until amended, repealed, superseded, or nullified by the office of Safety Fire Commissioner by proper authority or as otherwise provided by law.

(b) Any proceedings or other matters pending before the Department of Labor or Commissioner of Labor on June 30, 2012, which relate to the functions transferred to the office of Safety Fire Commissioner pursuant to this chapter and Part 6 of Article 1 of Chapter 2 of Title 8 shall be transferred to the office of Safety Fire Commissioner on July 1, 2012.

(c) The rights, privileges, entitlements, obligations, and duties of parties to contracts, leases, agreements, and other transactions as identified by the Office of Planning and Budget entered into before July 1, 2012, by the Department of Labor which relate to the functions transferred to the office of Safety Fire Commissioner pursuant to this chapter and Part 6 of Article 1 of Chapter 2 of Title 8 shall continue to exist; and none of these rights, privileges, entitlements, obligations, and duties are impaired or diminished by reason of the transfer of the functions to the office of Safety Fire Commissioner. In all such instances, the office of Safety Fire Commissioner shall be substituted for the Department of Labor, and the office of Safety Fire Commissioner shall succeed to the rights and duties under such contracts, leases, agreements, and other transactions.

(d) All persons employed by the Department of Labor in capacities which relate to the functions transferred to the office of Safety Fire Commissioner pursuant to this chapter and Part 6 of Article 1 of Chapter 2 of Title 8 on June 30, 2012, shall, on July 1, 2012, become employees of the office of Safety Fire Commissioner in similar capacities, as determined by the Commissioner of Insurance. Such employees shall be subject to the employment practices and policies of the office of Safety Fire Commissioner on and after July 1, 2012, but the compensation and benefits of such transferred employees shall not be reduced as a result of such transfer. Employees who are subject to the rules of the State Personnel Board and who are transferred to the office shall retain all existing rights under such rules. Accrued annual and sick leave possessed by the transferred employees on June 30, 2012, shall be retained by such employees as employees of the office of Safety Fire Commissioner.

(e) On July 1, 2012, the office of Safety Fire Commissioner shall receive custody of the state owned real property in the custody of the Department of Labor on June 30, 2012, and which pertains to the functions transferred to the office of Safety Fire Commissioner pursuant to this chapter and Part 6 of Article 1 of Chapter 2 of Title 8.

(f) The Safety Fire Commissioner shall provide a report to the House Committee on Governmental Affairs and the Senate Government Oversight Committee prior to the first day of the 2013 regular session of the Georgia General Assembly outlining the effects and results of this Code section and providing information on any problems or concerns with respect to the implementation of this Code section.

Code 1981, § 25-15-1, enacted by Ga. L. 2012, p. 1144, § 1/SB 446; Ga. L. 2013, p. 141, § 25/HB 79.