The attorney general and reporter may fix the compensation of the attorney general and reporter and the attorney general and reporter's several assistants within the limits of the appropriation to that department. The attorney general and reporter's salary must not exceed the greater of that of an associate justice of the supreme court or of a class 1 official pursuant to title 8, chapter 23, part 1. All such salaries must be payable in periodic installments out of the state treasury upon the warrants of the commissioner of finance and administration.
T.C.A. § 8-6-104