(1) There is hereby created an administrative tribunal consisting of three (3) members, one (1) from each grand division, known as the “Tennessee claims commission.”
(2) For administrative purposes, the commission shall be attached to the treasury department. The administrative responsibilities of the commission shall be performed by the state treasurer, in consultation with the claims commission and under the oversight of the board of claims. The state treasurer is authorized to delegate to the administrative clerk such of these responsibilities as the state treasurer deems appropriate.
(3) The authority to appoint, terminate and control the staff of the commission shall rest with the state treasurer; provided, that the individual claims commissioners may appoint, terminate and control the staff personnel assigned to their respective offices. All decisions relative to compensation of the staff of the commission, including the staff positions assigned to the individual commissioners, shall be subject to the approval of the state treasurer. The individual claims commissioners shall consult with the state treasurer prior to taking any personnel action with respect to the staff personnel assigned to their respective offices, and the state treasurer shall consult with the members of the claims commission prior to taking any personnel action for all other staff of the commission.
(4) The employees shall not have state service status but shall be subject to personnel policies and regulations which are applicable to employees of the treasury department, such as leave, compensation, classification and travel requests.
(5) Notwithstanding any provision of Acts 1997, ch. 165, to the contrary, the autonomy of individual claims commissioners in performing their claims adjudication function shall be respected by the state treasurer and the board of claims. Nothing within that act shall be construed to give the state treasurer or board of claims authority to supervise or take any personal actions with regard to the individual claims commissioners.
(6) For the purposes of this part and part 4 of this chapter, “grand division of the state” shall be defined as such term is defined in title 4, chapter 1, part 2, except that Cumberland County shall be included within the middle grand division.