Standard&Poor's Ratings Services revised its outlook to positive from stable on New York State's general obligation (GO) and state appropriation secured debt. At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed its 'AA' rating on New York State's state GO debt and its 'AA-' rating on the state's appropriation secured debt rating. We base the outlook revision on what we view as the state's movement toward structurally balanced budgets in the past two years. New York State has, in our opinion, lowered projected future year general fund budget gaps due largely to recent restraint in school aid and Medicaid expenditure growth. We believe spending restraint will also be aided in the long term by the recent establishment of a
