350.0614  Public Counsel; compensation and expenses.--

(1)  The salaries and expenses of the Public Counsel and his or her employees shall be allocated by the committee only from moneys appropriated to the Public Counsel by the Legislature.

(2)  The Legislature hereby declares and determines that the Public Counsel is under the legislative branch of government within the intention of the legislation as expressed in chapter 216, and no power shall be in the Executive Office of the Governor or its successor to release or withhold funds appropriated to it, but the same shall be available for expenditure as provided by law and the rules or decisions of the Joint Auditing Committee.

(3)  Neither the Executive Office of the Governor nor the Department of Management Services or its successor shall have power to determine the number, or fix the compensation, of the employees of the Public Counsel or to exercise any manner of control over them.