10-9-4. Coverage of service.
The Personnel Act [10-9-1 NMSA 1978] and the service cover all state positions except:
A. officials elected by popular vote or appointed to fill vacancies to elective offices;
B. members of boards and commissions and heads of agencies appointed by the governor;
C. heads of agencies appointed by boards or commissions;
D. directors of department divisions;
E. those in educational institutions and in public schools;
F. those employed by state institutions and by state agencies providing educational programs and who are required to hold valid certificates as certified school instructors as defined in Section 22-1-2 NMSA 1978 issued by the state board of education;
G. those in the governor's office;
H. those in the state militia or the commissioned officers of the New Mexico state police division of the department of public safety;
I. those in the judicial branch of government;
J. those in the legislative branch of government;
K. not more than two assistants and one secretary in the office of each official listed in Subsections A, B and C of this section, excluding members of boards and commissions in Subsection B of this section;
L. those of a professional or scientific nature which are temporary in nature;
M. those filled by patients or inmates in charitable, penal or correctional institutions;
N. state employees if the personnel board in its discretion decides that the position is one of policymaking; and
O. disadvantaged youth under twenty-two years of age regularly enrolled or to be enrolled in a secondary educational institution approved by the state board of education or in an accredited state institution of advanced learning or vocational training and who are to be employed for not more than seven hundred twenty hours during any calendar year:
(1) the term "disadvantaged youth" shall be defined for purposes of this exemption by regulation duly promulgated by the board; and
(2) the board shall:
(a) require that all the criteria of this subsection have been met;
(b) establish employment lists for the certification of the highest-standing candidates to the prospective employers; and
(c) establish the pay rates for such employees.