(a) The chief executive officer of the State Department of Human Resources shall be known as the Commissioner of the State Department of Human Resources.

(b) It shall be the duty of the state board to appoint the commissioner who shall serve at its pleasure. He shall be appointed on the basis of education, ability and experience in the administration of public welfare and without regard to residence or political affiliation and the state board shall set the salary of the commissioner. The commissioner shall be the executive and administrative officer of the state department and shall exercise all the rights, powers, duties and authority vested in the state department. The state board, in conference with the commissioner, shall be responsible for the adoption of policies, rules and regulations for its government and for the government of the state department. All administrative and executive duties and responsibilities of the state department shall be performed by the commissioner, subject to the authority of the state board. The state board, subject to the provisions of the merit system wherein applicable, shall have the power and it shall be its duty to fix minimum standards of service and personnel, and to set salary schedules, based upon education, training, previous experience and general efficiency which must have been attained by persons selected for positions to be filled in the state department and the county departments of human resources hereinafter created.

(c) The commissioner shall submit to the state board for its approval an annual budget of all funds appropriated by the legislature to the state department for the specific purposes for which they are appropriated and also a budget of federal funds which may be allotted to the state by the federal government for the purposes of the state department according to the regulations of the federal authorities. He shall publish annually a full report of the operation and administration of the Department of Human Resources, together with recommendations and suggestions and submit such report to the state board. The commissioner, subject to the applicable provisions of the merit system, shall appoint a director of each bureau and such other personnel as may be necessary for the efficient performance of the duties prescribed in this chapter.

(d) The commissioner shall interpret policies, rules and regulations formulated by the state board and shall have power, subject to the approval of the state board, to create within the state department such bureaus as are necessary for the effective operation of the public assistance program, and to allocate and reallocate functions among bureaus and departmental agencies.