SECTION 2. Division of drug rehabilitation; director; duties; appointments; employees

There shall be in the department a division of drug rehabilitation. The division shall take cognizance of all matters affecting drug dependency in the commonwealth. The director shall be the chief administrative and executive officer of the division. He shall administer the rules and regulations of the division and shall prepare proposed rules and regulations for the consideration of the commissioner. He shall submit annually to the commissioner a report containing recommendations for legislation relating to drug dependency.

The approval of the commissioner shall be required for any budgetary request of the division, the planning and construction of facilities by the division, any exercise of the power of eminent domain by the division, all contracts and agreements entered into by the division relating to the use and occupation of real property, and any application by the division for a grant or loan from the federal government.

The director shall, subject to the approval of the commissioner, appoint the administrator of each facility operated by the division pursuant to this chapter. Each such administrator shall be a person qualified by training and experience to operate a facility for the treatment of drug dependent persons or persons in need of immediate assistance due to the use of a dependency related drug.

The director may, subject to the approval of the commissioner, appoint such hearings officers as may be necessary. Hearings of the division shall be conducted by the director or a hearings officer. The director may also, subject to the approval of the commissioner, establish such other positions and employ such additional personnel and consultants as he may consider appropriate to carry out the provisions of this chapter. The provisions of chapter thirty-one shall not apply to the director, physicians, psychiatrists, and psychologists who have full medical, psychiatric or psychological responsibility, whichever is applicable, as opposed to administrative responsibility, or to nurses; provided, however, that all persons so employed and all positions established which, as a condition of receiving federal grants for programs and activities to which federal standards for a merit system of personnel administration relate, make necessary the application of the provisions of the civil service law shall be subject to the provisions of chapter thirty-one if such federal standards are uniform in all states.