The director of each department shall, with the approval of the governor, maintain a central office at a location in the state that the director finds necessary for the efficient performance of the department. The central office of a department shall not be relocated from Columbus to another location in this state until the director of the department has conducted a cost-benefit analysis of the relocation and provided a copy of the analysis to the governor, the speaker of the house of representatives, and the president of the senate and the relocation has been approved by an act of the general assembly.

The director of each department may, with the approval of the governor, establish and maintain, at places other than the location of the central office, branch offices for the conduct of any one or more functions of the department.

No relocation of departments or employees of departments from one location in this state to another shall be carried out that will result in an increase in the total number of employees of all departments or an increase in the total number of employees in any department that is relocated. This section does not prevent a department from increasing the number of its employees to meet the demands of its workload or for any other reason arising from circumstances unrelated to the department’s relocation.