(a) The Department of Higher Education shall establish and maintain a central pool of four hundred (400) positions to be used to establish additional positions in an institution of higher education when an institution does not have sufficient positions available to meet unanticipated enrollment growth, industry training demands, or its mandated responsibilities.
(b) Central pool positions shall be used by the institution if the personnel service needs exceed the number of positions authorized by the General Assembly and were not anticipated at the time of the passage of the institution's operating appropriation act.
(c) A position established under this section shall not exceed a salary rate of the highest maximum annual salary rate or the highest grade level position authorized by the General Assembly in the requesting institution's appropriation act.
(d) The institution shall provide justification to the department for the need to allocate positions from the central pool.
(e) Titles shall not be assigned to the institution from the central pool until specific positions are requested by the institution, recommended by the department, and reviewed by the Legislative Council or, if the General Assembly is in session, the Joint Budget Committee.
(f) If an institution requests any central pool position to be continued during the subsequent fiscal year, the position shall be requested as a new position in the institution's subsequent fiscal year budget request.