(1)(a) The Public Counsel may select, appoint, and compensate as he or she sees fit, within the amount available by appropriation, such assistants and employees as he or she deems necessary to discharge the responsibilities under sections 81-8,240 to 81-8,254. He or she shall appoint and designate one assistant to be a deputy public counsel, one assistant to be a deputy public counsel for corrections, one assistant to be a deputy public counsel for institutions, and one assistant to be a deputy public counsel for welfare services.

(b) Such deputy public counsels shall be subject to the control and supervision of the Public Counsel.

(c) The authority of the deputy public counsel for corrections shall extend to all facilities and parts of facilities, offices, houses of confinement, and institutions which are operated by the Department of Correctional Services and all county or municipal correctional or jail facilities.

(d) The authority of the deputy public counsel for institutions shall extend to all mental health institutions and facilities operated by the Department of Health and Human Services, to all veterans institutions operated by the Department of Veterans' Affairs, and to all regional behavioral health authorities that provide services and all community-based behavioral health services providers that contract with a regional behavioral health authority to provide services, for any individual who was a patient within the prior twenty-four months of a state-owned and state-operated regional center, and to all complaints pertaining to administrative acts of the department, authority, or provider when those acts are concerned with the rights and interests of individuals placed within those institutions and facilities or receiving community-based behavioral health services.

(e) The authority of the deputy public counsel for welfare services shall extend to all complaints pertaining to administrative acts of administrative agencies when those acts are concerned with the rights and interests of individuals involved in the welfare services system of the State of Nebraska.

(f) The Public Counsel may delegate to members of the staff any authority or duty under sections 81-8,240 to 81-8,254 except the power of delegation and the duty of formally making recommendations to administrative agencies or reports to the Governor or the Legislature.

(2) The Public Counsel shall appoint the Inspector General of Nebraska Child Welfare as provided in section 43-4317. The Inspector General of Nebraska Child Welfare shall have the powers and duties provided in the Office of Inspector General of Nebraska Child Welfare Act.

(3) The Public Counsel shall appoint the Inspector General of the Nebraska Correctional System as provided in section 47-904. The Inspector General of the Nebraska Correctional System shall have the powers and duties provided in the Office of Inspector General of the Nebraska Correctional System Act.