81-1316.

State Personnel System; exemptions.

(1) All agencies and personnel of state government shall be covered by sections 81-1301 to 81-1319 and shall be considered subject to the State Personnel System, except the following:

(a) All personnel of the office of the Governor;

(b) All personnel of the office of the Lieutenant Governor;

(c) All personnel of the office of the Secretary of State;

(d) All personnel of the office of the State Treasurer;

(e) All personnel of the office of the Attorney General;

(f) All personnel of the office of the Auditor of Public Accounts;

(g) All personnel of the Legislature;

(h) All personnel of the court systems;

(i) All personnel of the Board of Educational Lands and Funds;

(j) All personnel of the Public Service Commission;

(k) All personnel of the Nebraska Brand Committee;

(l) All personnel of the Commission of Industrial Relations;

(m) All personnel of the State Department of Education;

(n) All personnel of the Nebraska state colleges and the Board of Trustees of the Nebraska State Colleges;

(o) All personnel of the University of Nebraska;

(p) All personnel of the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education;

(q) All personnel of the Governor's Policy Research Office;

(r) All personnel of the Commission on Public Advocacy;

(s) All agency heads;

(t)(i) The Director of Behavioral Health of the Division of Behavioral Health; (ii) the Director of Children and Family Services of the Division of Children and Family Services; (iii) the Director of Developmental Disabilities of the Division of Developmental Disabilities; (iv) the Director of Medicaid and Long-Term Care of the Division of Medicaid and Long-Term Care; and (v) the Director of Public Health of the Division of Public Health;

(u) The chief medical officer established under section 81-3115, the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Services, and the chief executive officers of the Beatrice State Developmental Center, Lincoln Regional Center, Norfolk Regional Center, Hastings Regional Center, Central Nebraska Veterans' Home, Norfolk Veterans' Home, Eastern Nebraska Veterans' Home, Western Nebraska Veterans' Home, and each youth rehabilitation and treatment center;

(v) The chief executive officers of all facilities operated by the Department of Correctional Services and the medical director for the department appointed pursuant to section 83-4,156;

(w) All personnel employed as pharmacists, physicians, psychiatrists, or psychologists by the Department of Correctional Services;

(x) All personnel employed as pharmacists, physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, service area administrators, or facility operating officers of the Department of Health and Human Services or the Department of Veterans' Affairs;

(y) Deputies and examiners of the Department of Banking and Finance and the Department of Insurance as set forth in sections 8-105 and 44-119, except for those deputies and examiners who remain in the State Personnel System;

(z) All personnel of the Tax Equalization and Review Commission;

(aa) The associate director of the Conservation Division of the Nebraska State Historical Society and all personnel employed as a Conservator I or Conservator II of the Conservation Division of the Nebraska State Historical Society; and

(bb) Assistant directors and deputies of the Nebraska Public Employees Retirement Systems.

(2) At each agency head's discretion, up to the following number of additional positions may be exempted from the State Personnel System, based on the following agency size categories:

The purpose of having such noncovered positions shall be to allow agency heads the opportunity to recruit, hire, and supervise critical, confidential, or policymaking personnel without restrictions from selection procedures, compensation rules, career protections, and grievance privileges. Persons holding the noncovered positions shall serve at the pleasure of the agency head and shall be paid salaries set by the agency head. An agency with over five thousand employees shall provide notice in writing to the Health and Human Services Committee of the Legislature when forty noncovered positions have been filled by the agency head pursuant to this subsection.

(3) No changes to this section or to the number of noncovered positions within an agency shall affect the status of personnel employed on the date the changes become operative without their prior written agreement. A state employee's career protections or coverage by personnel rules and regulations shall not be revoked by redesignation of the employee's position as a noncovered position without the prior written agreement of such employee.