(a) The Division of Rehabilitation Services within the Department of Human Resources, including the disability adjudication section and the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, is transferred to the Department of Labor on July 1, 2001, and that division shall become the Division of Rehabilitation Services of the Department of Labor on July 1, 2001. The functions, duties, programs, institutions, and authority of the Division of Rehabilitation Services which were vested in the Department of Human Resources on June 30, 2001, are vested in the Department of Labor effective July 1, 2001. The division shall be administered by a director appointed by the Commissioner. The policy-making functions which were vested in the Board of Human Resources or the Department of Human Resources pertaining to the Division of Rehabilitation Services are vested in the Commissioner of Labor effective July 1, 2001.

(b) The Department of Labor shall, from July 1, 2001, assume possession and control of all records, papers, equipment, supplies, office space, and all other tangible property possessed and controlled by the Department of Human Resources as of June 30, 2001, in the Department of Human Resources' administration of the Division of Rehabilitation Services. All funds attributable to the Division of Rehabilitation Services and its programs and institutions from state, federal, and any other public or private source, shall be transferred to the Department of Labor on July 1, 2001.

(c) The Department of Human Resources shall calculate, in consultation with the Department of Labor, the amount of all funds of or attributable to the Division of Rehabilitation Services and its programs and institutions from any source that are used to provide administrative or other services within the Department of Human Resources, including funds from the disability adjudication section, the cost allocation system, and any indirect costs funding from the federal government or any other source. The amount calculated shall be transferred to the Department of Labor on July 1, 2001. Any changes or amendments made to the structure or placement of division programs and institutions, the allocation and expenditure of division funds, division rules, regulations, policies and procedures, or the administrative orders of the Department of Human Resources pertaining to the division, between May 1, 2000, and July 1, 2001, shall be made in consultation with the Commissioner of Labor. In addition, on and after May 1, 2000, the Department of Human Resources shall make available to the Department of Labor all records and information of the Department of Human Resources and the Division of Rehabilitation Services which relate to the functions, duties, and administration of the division, to assist in the orderly transfer of the division to the Department of Labor.

(d) All officers, employees, and agents of the Division of Rehabilitation Services who, on June 30, 2001, are engaged in the performance of a function or duty which shall be vested in the Division of Rehabilitation Services of the Department of Labor on July 1, 2001, by this chapter, shall be automatically transferred to the Department of Labor on July 1, 2001. An equivalent number of positions or funds of the Department of Human Resources which provide administrative support to the Division of Rehabilitation Services shall be transferred to the Department of Labor on July 1, 2001. Such persons shall be subject to the employment practices and policies of the Department of Labor on and after July 1, 2001, but consistent with the compensation and benefits of other employees of that department holding positions substantially the same as the transferred employees, the compensation and benefits of such transferred employees shall not be reduced. Employees who are subject to the State Merit System of Personnel Administration and who are transferred to the Division of Rehabilitation Services of the Department of Labor shall retain all existing rights under the State Merit System of Personnel Administration. Retirement rights of such transferred employees existing under the Employees' Retirement System of Georgia or other public retirement systems on June 30, 2001, shall not be impaired or interrupted by the transfer of such employees, and membership in any such retirement system shall continue in the same status possessed by the transferred employees on June 30, 2001. Accrued annual and sick leave shall be retained by said employees as employees of the Department of Labor. The Department of Human Resources shall be responsible for payment of the accrued Fair Labor Standards Act compensatory time possessed by said employees. Such accrued compensatory time shall be used by or paid to said employees prior to July 1, 2001.

(e)(1) The Division of Rehabilitation Services of the Department of Labor is the designated state unit for the vocational rehabilitation program.

(2) The Division of Rehabilitation Services of the Department of Labor shall conform to federal standards in all respects necessary for receiving federal grants and the Commissioner of the Department of Labor is authorized and empowered to effect such changes as may, from time to time, be necessary in order to comply with such standards.

(3) The Division of Rehabilitation Services of the Department of Labor is authorized to employ, on a full or part-time basis, such medical, psychiatric, social work, supervisory, institutional, and other professional personnel and such clerical and other employees as may be necessary to discharge the duties of the division under this chapter. The division is also authorized to contract for such professional services as may be necessary.

(4) Classified employees of the Division of Rehabilitation Services of the Department of Labor under this chapter shall in all instances be employed and dismissed in accordance with rules and regulations of the State Merit System of Personnel Administration.

(5) All personnel of the Division of Rehabilitation Services of the Department of Labor are authorized to be members of the Employees' Retirement System of Georgia as provided in Chapter 2 of Title 47. All rights, credits, and funds in that retirement system which are possessed by state personnel transferred by provisions of this chapter to the Department of Labor, or otherwise had by persons at the time of employment with that department, are continued and preserved, it being the intention of the General Assembly that such persons shall not lose any rights, credits, or funds to which they may be entitled prior to becoming employees of the Division of Rehabilitation Services of the Department of Labor.

(f) The Department of Labor shall succeed to all rules, regulations, policies, procedures, and administrative orders of the Department of Human Resources which are in effect on June 30, 2001, and which relate to the functions of the Division of Rehabilitation Services. Such rules, regulations, policies, procedures, and administrative orders shall remain in effect until amended, repealed, superseded, or nullified by proper authority or as otherwise provided by law.

(g) The rights, privileges, entitlements, and duties of parties to contracts, leases, agreements, and other transactions entered into before July 1, 2001, by the Department of Human Resources or the Division of Rehabilitation Services pertaining to the Division of Rehabilitation Services transferred to the Department of Labor by this chapter shall continue to exist; and none of these rights, privileges, entitlements, and duties are impaired or diminished by reason of the transfer of the functions to the Department of Labor. In all such instances, the Department of Labor shall be substituted for the Department of Human Resources or the Division of Rehabilitation Services, and the Department of Labor shall succeed to the rights and duties under such contracts, leases, agreements, and other transactions.

(h) The Division of Rehabilitation Services of the Department of Labor shall conform all service delivery regions to the state service delivery regions provided in subsection (a) of Code Section 50-4-7.