4. a. There is hereby established a body corporate and politic, with corporate succession, to be known as the “New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission.” The commission shall be established in the Executive Branch of the State Government and for the purposes of complying with the provisions of Article V, Section IV, paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution, the commission is allocated, in but not of, the Department of Transportation, but notwithstanding this allocation, the commission shall be independent of any supervision and control by the department or by any board or officer thereof. The commission is hereby constituted as an instrumentality of the State exercising public and essential governmental functions, and the exercise by the commission of the powers conferred by this act shall be deemed and held to be an essential governmental function of the State.

b. The Division of Motor Vehicles, transferred to the Department of Transportation pursuant to Reorganization Plan No. 002-1995, is abolished as a division in the Department of Transportation, and all of its functions, powers and duties, except as herein otherwise provided, are transferred to, and are continued in the commission and shall be exercised by the chief administrator of the commission. Unless otherwise specified in this act, this transfer shall be subject to the provisions of the “State Agency Transfer Act,” P.L.1971, c.375 (C. 52:14D-1 et seq.). All records, equipment and other personal property, appropriations, and any unexpended balances of funds appropriated or otherwise available to the division, shall be transferred to the commission pursuant to the “State Agency Transfer Act.”

c. Whenever any law, rule, regulation, order, contract, tariff, document, reorganization plan, judicial, or administrative proceeding or otherwise thereunder, refers to the Division of Motor Vehicles in the Department of Law and Public Safety or in the Department of Transportation, or to the director thereof, the reference shall mean and refer to the commission, unless otherwise stated in this act.

d. Regulations adopted by the division shall continue with full force and effect until amended or repealed pursuant to law.

e. The commission shall operate on a fiscal year budget cycle.

f. The commission shall continue in existence until dissolved by act of the Legislature. However, any dissolution of the commission shall be on condition that the commission has no debts, contractual duties or obligations outstanding, or that provision has been made for the payment, discharge or retirement of these debts, contractual duties or obligations. Upon any dissolution of the commission, all property, rights, funds and assets thereof shall pass to and become vested in the State.

L.2003,c.13,s.4.