(a) Employees of the commission shall not be employees of the state, but shall be treated as state employees for the purpose of participating in any insurance or retirement/pension programs provided for state employees.
(b) The commission may pay the employer’s contributions to any insurance or retirement/pension programs out of any funds appropriated or available to the commission for any purpose whatsoever, and the commission may deduct the employees’ contributions for the programs by means of payroll deductions or otherwise from any salary or compensation paid employees.