AIR QUALITY RESEARCH SUPPORT PROGRAM.

(a) The commission shall contract with a nonprofit organization or institution of higher education to establish and administer a program to support research related to air quality.

(b) The board of directors of a nonprofit organization establishing and administering the research program related to air quality under this chapter may not have more than 11 members, must include two persons with relevant scientific expertise to be nominated by the commission, and may not include more than four county judges selected from counties in the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria and Dallas-Fort Worth nonattainment areas. The two persons with relevant scientific expertise to be nominated by the commission may be employees or officers of the commission, provided that they do not participate in funding decisions affecting the granting of funds by the commission to a nonprofit organization on whose board they serve.

(c) The commission shall provide oversight as appropriate for grants provided under the program established under this chapter.

(d) A nonprofit organization or institution of higher education shall submit to the commission for approval a budget for the disposition of funds granted under the program established under this chapter.

(e) A nonprofit organization or institution of higher education shall be reimbursed for costs incurred in establishing and administering the research program related to air quality under this chapter. Reimbursable administrative costs of a nonprofit organization or institution of higher education may not exceed 10 percent of the program budget.

(f) A nonprofit organization that receives grants from the commission under this chapter is subject to Chapters 551 and 552, Government Code.