No suit, action, or other proceeding, judicial or administrative, lawfully commenced prior to July 1, 2019, or which could have been commenced prior to that date, by or against the State Energy Office or the Department of Environmental Quality, or the director or any employee thereof in such director's or employee's official capacity or in relation to the discharge of his or her official duties, shall abate by reason of the transfer of duties and functions from the State Energy Office to the Department of Environment and Energy or the renaming of the Department of Environmental Quality as the Department of Environment and Energy.