(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), this chapter applies to all personnel in state service. “State service” means all officers and positions of trust or employment in the service of state government in the executive branch and all boards, commissions and agencies of state government, except those specifically excluded in this chapter.

(b) This chapter does not apply to the following:

(1) The legislative branch of state government including, but not limited to, employees of the fiscal review committee, and employees of any other committee, office or other entity created pursuant to law or resolution of either house of the general assembly for the purpose of serving either or both houses of the general assembly in executing its duties under the constitution of Tennessee;

(2) The judicial branch of state government including, but not limited to, employees of the administrative office of the courts;

(3) The office of the secretary of state;

(4) The office of the state treasurer;

(5) The office of the comptroller of the treasury;

(6) The office of the attorney general and reporter;

(7) The offices of the district attorneys general and the district public defenders;

(8) The schools, institutions, and entities governed by the state university boards, the board of regents, and the board of trustees of the University of Tennessee, including the members of the teaching staffs and the staffs of the boards themselves; and only certified professional employees of the Tennessee School for the Blind, Tennessee School for the Deaf, West Tennessee School for the Deaf, Alvin C. York Institute, and any other special school hereafter established;

(9) Any administrative boards and commissions, or any other officers or employees, attached to the entities listed in subdivisions (b)(1)-(8) for administrative purposes;

(10) The Tennessee higher education commission and all employees of that commission;

(11) All employees of the Tennessee advisory commission on intergovernmental relations;

(12) The Tennessee housing development agency and all employees of that agency; and

(13) All employees of the Tennessee rehabilitative initiative in correction board.

(c) The commissioner shall, upon request of the heads of any of the excluded entities enumerated in subsection (b), perform any of the functions set forth in this chapter. Such a request shall not be deemed to make this chapter applicable to those entities.