6 U.S.C. § 552 — Savings provisions

(a) Completed administrative actions.—
(1) An agency’s completed administrative actions are not affected by this chapter or by transferring the agency^* to the Department^*. They continue according to their terms until amended, modified, superseded, terminated, set aside, or revoked in accordance with law by a United States officer or a court with jurisdiction, or by operation of law.
(2) “Completed administrative action” includes orders, determinations, rules, regulations, personnel actions, permits, agreements, grants, contracts, certificates, licenses, registrations, and privileges. This section does not otherwise define that term.

(b) Pending proceedings.—Subject to the Secretary’s authority under this chapter—
(1) pending agency proceedings, including notices of proposed rulemaking and applications for licenses, permits, certificates, grants, and financial assistance, continue despite this chapter or the transfer unless they are discontinued or modified under the same terms and conditions and to the same extent that they could have been discontinued if the chapter or transfer had not occurred; and
(2) orders issued in those proceedings, appeals from them, and payments made under them must issue in the same manner and on the same terms as if this chapter had not been enacted or the agency had not been transferred. Those orders continue until amended, modified, superseded, terminated, set aside, or revoked by a United States officer or a court with jurisdiction, or by operation of law.

(c) Pending civil actions.—Subject to the Secretary’s authority under this chapter, pending civil actions continue despite this chapter or the transfer of an agency to the Department. In those actions, proceedings must occur, appeals must be taken, and judgments must be rendered and enforced in the same manner and with the same effect as if the chapter or transfer had not occurred.

(d) References.—References to a transferred agency in statutes, Executive orders, rules, regulations, directives, or delegations of authority that came before the transfer or the effective date of this chapter are treated, as appropriate, as references to the Department, its officers, employees, or agents, or its corresponding organizational units or functions^*. Statutory reporting requirements that applied to the agency immediately before the chapter’s effective date continue after the transfer if they refer to the agency by name.

(e) Employment provisions.—
(1) Despite the generality of the provisions above, including subsections (a) and (d), the Secretary^* may, in regulations prescribed jointly with the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, adopt for the Department the rules, procedures, terms, and conditions established by statute, rule, or regulation before the effective date of this chapter concerning employment in an agency transferred under this chapter.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter or under authority granted by this chapter, transferring personnel under this chapter does not change the terms and conditions of their employment, including compensation.

(f) Statutory reporting requirements.—A statutory reporting requirement that applied to an agency transferred to the Department under this chapter immediately before the effective date of this chapter continues after the transfer if the requirement refers to the agency by name.