1. The committee on legislative research shall organize an oversight division to prepare fiscal notes and to conduct program evaluations of state agencies, including program evaluations involving budget transparency and accountability. The committee may form a subcommittee of not less than six members to provide direct supervision of the personnel and practices of the division. The subcommittee shall consist of one-half of the members appointed by the chair from the house which he or she represents and one-half of the members appointed by the vice chair from the house which he or she represents.

2. Within the limits of the appropriations made for this division, the committee shall employ a director of the oversight division and other personnel as it deems necessary. The director shall be qualified by training and experience to conduct such evaluations, and he or she shall be directly responsible for those activities. The director of the oversight division, with the consent of the joint committee, may employ personnel necessary to carry out the duties prescribed in this chapter. Persons employed to work in the oversight division shall be professional persons possessing a wide knowledge and demonstrated expertise in governmental programming and financial planning, in conducting program review evaluations and analytic studies, and of federal, state, and local government budgetary processes, laws and regulations of the state of Missouri.