...S&P Global Ratings has lowered its rating on the State of Connecticut's first- and second-lien special tax obligation (STO) bonds issued for transportation infrastructure purposes to 'A+' from '##'. The outlook is stable. The downgrade follows the application of our Priority-Lien Tax Revenue Debt criteria published Oct. 22, 2018, which factors in both the strength and stability of the pledged revenues, as well as the general creditworthiness of the state as issuing obligor. The priority-lien rating on the STO bonds is limited to one-notch above our view of Connecticut's creditworthiness (general obligation rating [GO]: A/Stable) and is constrained from going higher unless there is an improvement in the state GO rating. In our view, the STO bonds do not benefit from limited scope of operations or extraordinary expenditure flexibility of the obligated entity, despite strong revenue coverage of debt service, while we believe pledged revenues could have exposure to operating risk of the state...
