1. The Governor may, within the limits of available money, employ such persons as he or she deems necessary to provide an appropriate staff for the Office of the Governor, including, without limitation, the Office of Economic Development, the Office of Science, Innovation and Technology, the Office of the Western Regional Education Compact, the Office of Workforce Innovation and the Governor’s mansion. Except as otherwise provided by specific statute, such employees are not in the classified or unclassified service of the State and, except as otherwise provided in NRS 231.043 and 231.047, serve at the pleasure of the Governor.

2. Except as otherwise provided by specific statute, the Governor shall:

(a) Determine the salaries and benefits of the persons employed pursuant to subsection 1, within limits of money available for that purpose; and

(b) Adopt such rules and policies as he or she deems appropriate to establish the duties and employment rights of the persons employed pursuant to subsection 1.

3. The Governor may:

(a) Appoint a Chief Information Officer of the State; or

(b) Designate the Administrator as the Chief Information Officer of the State.

If the Administrator is so appointed, the Administrator shall serve as the Chief Information Officer of the State without additional compensation.

4. As used in this section, “Administrator” means the Administrator of the Division of Enterprise Information Technology Services of the Department of Administration.

(Added to NRS by 1967, 1488; A 1971, 1423; 1981, 1271; 1997, 616; 1999, 3278; 2001, 2284; 2009, 2651; 2011, 2935, 3427; 2015, 2122; 2017, 4331)