The Authority is a public authority and body politic and corporate created in 1984 by an act of the Texas Legislature to provide financing for the construction or acquisition of facilities for State agencies.

The Authority is governed by a board of directors composed of seven members appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. The current members of the Authority Board, the office held by each member, the occupation of each member, and the date on which each member's term expires are provided under Board.

The Authority employs an Executive Director who is charged with managing the affairs of the Authority, subject to and under the direction of the Authority Board. The agency has an FTE cap of 17 FTEs and is funded by legislative appropriations.

Before the Authority may issue bonds for the acquisition or construction of a building for a State agency, other than on institution of higher education, the Legislature must have authorized the specific project for which the bonds are to be issued and the estimated cost of the project or the maximum amount of bonded indebtedness that may be incurred by the issuance of bonds.

Pursuant to Texas Government Code, Chapter 1232 (the Authority's enabling law), and Chapters 1401, and 1403, the Authority issues general obligation and revenue bonds for designated State agencies and maintains the Master Lease Purchase Program, a revenue commercial paper program used primarily to finance equipment acquisitions by State agencies.

Additionally, the Legislature may authorize a bond issue and designate the Authority as the exclusive debt issuer in other statutes. For example, under the 1999 amendment to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Code, the Authority has issued revenue bonds on behalf of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for improvements to state parks and park facilities, and under amendments to the Texas Labor Code enacted in 2003, the Authority has issued revenue bonds for the Texas Workforce Commission to fund the Unemployment Compensation Fund. Further, the Authority has established a nonprofit corporation to issue bonds to finance facilities for charter schools as directed in Texas Education Code, Ch. 53, and an additional non-profit corporation to issue revenue bonds to provide rate relief for natural gas utility customers.

The Authority has issued revenue bonds on behalf of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, the Texas Facilities Commission, the Texas State Preservation Board, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the Texas Health & Human Services Commission, the Texas Workforce Commission, the Texas State Technical College System, the Texas Military Department, the Texas Historical Commission, the Texas Workers Compensation Insurance Fund, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, Midwestern State University, Texas Southern University, Stephen F. Austin State University, the Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association. It has also issued general obligation bonds for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, the Texas Facilities Commission, the Texas Department of State Health Services, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, the Texas National Research Laboratory Commission, the Texas Historical Commission, the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Texas School for the Deaf, the Texas Department of Agriculture, the Texas Military Department (formerly Adjutant General’s Department and Texas Military Facilities Commission), the Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas Military Preparedness Commission, and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.

The Authority currently administers three commercial paper programs, namely: a lease-revenue commercial paper program, which is available for financing equipment acquisitions and for the construction or renovation of buildings; a general obligation commercial paper program for CPRIT; and the commercial paper program for the Texas Facilities Commission.

In addition, in 2003, the Authority created a nonprofit corporation to finance projects for eligible charter schools pursuant to Chapter 53, Texas Education Code. Further, in 2021, the Authority created a nonprofit corporation, the Texas Natural Gas Securitization Finance Corporation, to issue customer rate relief bonds to recover certain extraordinary natural gas costs associated with Winter Storm Uri, pursuant to H.B.1520, 87th Leg., R.S. (2021).