(a) The commission shall be authorized to expend such funds as may be appropriated by the general assembly for the purpose of this chapter. Such expenditures shall be made upon certification by the chief justice to the proper fiscal officers.
(b) The commission shall not be authorized to subsidize the publication of the code out of public funds, but shall require that the cost of publication be borne by the publisher, and the publisher shall be required to depend for compensation upon the proceeds of the sale of the publication.
(c) In contracting for the price at which the Tennessee Code Annotated and its pocket supplements and replacement volumes shall be sold in Tennessee, the commission is directed to keep the price at the lowest figure which in its discretion is consistent with high editorial and publishing quality.